New Journey, Old Friends, New Relationship?
by Josh91
Summary: One day a surprising visitor offers Misty a chance to travel again, but have things changed? She knows how she feels about him, but what does he feel, and will this journey make them realise whats been in front of their eyes all this time?
1. A Day in the Life of a Gym Leader

_The girl stood there, alone in the darkness. She was cold. She was scared._

_Suddenly the darkness faded revealing a familiar site, she was standing atop the hill behind a fence at the Cerulean Cape looking east out to the ocean._

_She felt two arm then wrap around her body, she could tell it was him without the need to look. His right arm draped around her neck whilst he held on to her left shoulder. His left arm fell loosely around her middle, his hand stroking her stomach. She leaned backward into his embrace and she felt safe._

"_You came back." She said to him as she turned her head to face him._

_He smiled back at her. "Of course I did." He replied._

"_But why?" The girl asked inquisitively._

_He didn't say anything for a moment, he just stood there and stared into her eyes. The suspense was building up inside her, 'please say something,' she thought, she couldn't take this waiting any longer. Then finally, to her delight, he spoke._

"_For you." He answered._

_The girl looked away quickly, she could feel tears coming to her eyes. She couldn't help but smile as she basked what he had just said to her, it warmed her heart._

_He wrapped his muscular arms around her even tighter and pulled her close._

"_I love you Misty Waterflower." He whispered softly into her ear._

_She looked up at him, her eyes filled with pure happiness. He stroked the side of her face with his right hand before pulling her into a deep kiss._

_Misty's body melted into him from the mere touch of his lips, she was completely lost in the moment, the moment she had been waiting so long for._

_She pulled away from him and stared up at him with tear filled eyes._

"_I love you too," Misty whimpered before losing her self control completely and burying her face into his chest whilst floods for tears poured from her eyes._

"_Promise me you'll never leave me again," she sobbed deeply into him._

_He responded by tightening his embrace and whispering to her,_

"_You have my word."_

**Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.**

**Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.**

Misty awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. Not yet able to bring herself to open her eyes, she flung her arm aggressively in search of the source of the racket in the hope of being able to find it to shut it up.

She lay there as she adjusted to the world around her. Misty was not a very good morning person and as a result was bad at finding the motivation to get out of bed most days. This lack of motivation was not helped as she came to remember her dream last night, it still appeared very vivid to her. She could still feel the softness of his lips against hers. She longed for that sensation to be real one day, but what were the chances of that she thought to herself.

Misty got out of bed made her way over to her wardrobe, she figured she couldn't sit around and mope in her room all day, she had a responsibility to the Gym. If someone came in for a match she had to be there and lord knew her sisters weren't good at that. (Last time there was a mad rush of Pokémon Trainers when Misty wasn't there, Daisy, Violet and Lily almost started handing the out badges without battling)! If only they could actually handle a high pressure situation without her. However this did amuse her in a way, Misty was the youngest of the four Waterflower sister, and they never let her forget it. When they were younger they always treated her as the 'lesser' sister. But now if she was away for little more than an hour, they weren't able to cope. However she did still felt like the 'lesser' sister in other ways. Daisy, Violet and Lily were all absolutely stunning. People would come from far away regions to see them perform their water ballet. She never felt she could live up to them. She wasn't as talented or pretty as they were, but she tried not to think about it, she wouldn't let herself become even more depressed than she already felt.

Misty opened up her wardrobe to pick out a bathing suit for the day. This was always an arduous process as she was very conscience about her appearance and always wanted to look her best, if not for anyone else then for herself. She had always thought it was better to be prepared in these situations than to not be. "You never know who you might see," she would always say. 'Maybe he'll come in today,' she joked to herself, but she shook that thought off quickly. It was obvious that that wasn't going to happen. The last she heard of him he was in the Sinnoh region - probably having, yet another, adventure of a life time. Despite this however she still wanted to be presentable on the one in a million chance he had come home early and come to see her, just like in her dream. Truth be told she didn't really care about most other peoples opinion on her appearance, most of the people she met day to day were just trainers passing through that most likely she would never see again. The one opinion that had always mattered most to her though was his.

In the end she settled for her green bikini with the yellow strips. She hadn't worn it in a while so she figured it wold be a nice change. She also grabbed her white hoodie to pull over the top so that she could stay warm when she wasn't swimming.

"This'll work," she said to herself, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.

She then took the purple hair band that she had around her wrist and tied her hair up into her signature side pony tail and took one last look in the mirror to make sure that everything was as it should be and closed the wardrobe.

Misty made her way over to Togepi's bed. She crouched down beside it, he looked so peaceful. She wanted to leave him to sleep longer as she couldn't stand to wake him, but she knew if she didn't he wouldn't be happy waking up by himself, he was still only a baby after all. She reached down for him and picked him up slowly.

"Time to wake up sleepy head," she whispered softly to him.

With that Togepi let out a big yawn. He hadn't planned to wake up at this time, but didn't mind the early start. He was always happy to see his mothers face.

"Did you sleep well?" Misty ask him.

"Togi-Togi," Togepi replied cheerfully.

"Good. Shall we go and see the other Pokémon?" She asked.

"Ppprrriii!" Togepi shouted out in excitement. He always loved to see his friends.

With that Misty settled Togepi in her arms and they both went downstairs into the gyms main pool.

When they got there, to Misty's surprise, Tracy was across the room cleaning. 'Daisy, Violet or Lily must have let him in,' she thought to herself, but none of her sisters were anywhere to be seen. As she approached the poolside Tracy noticed her.

"Morning Misty!" he called from across the pool.

He continued to sweep as he had been whilst Misty walked around to meet him.

"Hey Tracy," she said to him in a less ecstatic manner than he had greeted her in.

"Did my sisters let you in?" she asked, but before he could reply her mind had already started to wonder, she couldn't stop thinking about last night.

"Emm yeah, Violet let me in about half an hour ago. Is everything okay Misty?" Tracy asked inquisitively.

Misty shook her head vigorously to bring herself back to reality. "Oh, yeah," she replied, not trying very hard to hide her true feelings, you could see in her eyes that she was hurting "I'm fine."

Tracy was not well known for reading people however, so did not pick up on this.

"Alright then. Your sisters left to go into town to run some errands, they left you a note."

Misty sighed. Whenever her sisters left her something like this it usually involved doing all the stuff that they were supposed to be taking care of. After all she wasn't the only gym leader, she was just the one who dealt with all the battles, it was their job to deal with the paperwork, feeding , etc. It wasn't that she didn't like doing these jobs, on the contrary, she loved every aspect of being a Gym Leader. It was just that sometimes she felt as if they were taking advantage of her good nature. She took the note from Tracy.

_Misty,_

_Gone shopping, will be out most of the day,_

_Can you make sure the Pokémon get some exercise in the main pool_

_today whilst we're out._

_Daisy, Violet and Lily_

Misty was actually a bit relieved, at least now this meant she could have a quiet day by the pool with the Pokémon, provided that no one came for a match. She didn't feel up for much today, her motivation had seemed to have left her. She went over to the side of the pool where all the Pokéballs were kept containing all the gyms Pokémon. One by one she released them into the water: Goldeen and Seaking, Staryu and Starmie, Dewgong, Politoed, Gyarados, Horsea, Caserin and Corsola. Even Psyduck was eager to get out of his ball. Despite _still_ not being able to swim he enjoyed being in the pool, relaxing on the floats or even on occasions riding on the backs of the lager Pokémon.

As all the Pokémon got accustomed to being out of their balls for the first time today, Misty climbed to the top of the diving board with Togepi in hand and took a seat on its edge. From there she could see the entire pool, even Tracy glumly trudging along with his set of chores, most likely given to him by Daisy. She giggled to herself a little, 'it's a good thing he's such a sucker for her, or else that would be me,' she thought. But her smile didn't last long, her mind was to distracted by other thoughts. Thoughts that had haunted her for longer than she cared to remember.

It had been almost two years since she had last heard from him. No letter. No phone call. Nothing. Misty was continuously checking with Delia to see if she had heard from him, but she would always say, 'He's just a free spirit, don't worry yourself, I'm sure he's doing just fine.' Recently though Misty had been getting more and more embarrassed about asking for him, she figured that Delia was probably getting tired of her. But it wasn't that she was worried for his well being, she knew first hand that he was more than capable of looking after himself. After all, if he could travel with her for the best part of three years, his current travels must seem like a breeze in comparison. The reason why she kept asking after him was that she missed him, so very much. They had spent so much time together in the past and had been to countless places over so many different regions. She had had the best times of her life when she was with him and he had helped shape the person she was today.

She had hated her sisters when she found out she had to leave him to take care of the gym for them so they could go on holiday, she wasn't ready to go back home. Even though Misty had got her bike back that day, the original reason that she was traveling with him, she had accepted a long time ago that it was never about that, she was there for him. She went through a long period of not speaking to Daisy, Violet or Lily when they returned from their holiday. Her sisters, for a long time, didn't even know why Misty wouldn't speak to them. She wouldn't even tell them. Her sisters knew how stubborn she could be and so eventually decided to leave her until she felt ready to say. When Misty finally found it in herself to talk to the people who, in her mind, ended her traveling days, none of them really understood why she took leaving him specifically that hard. They could only think of one reason for this, but they all agreed that if this was the case then it wouldn't be long before she'd work it out for herself, and they were right. To start with Misty didn't know the reason why leaving him was so hard either, however as time went on she thought about him more and more and the truth became clear to her.

She had fallen for him.

But what was Misty to do? They were worlds apart now. Her an aspiring Gym Leader, him a Pokémon Trainer traveling to far away lands. He hardly ever came home now, and as a result, she never got to see him. Every time she thought about that she would have to fight to keep the tears coming to her eyes. Their time apart had really taken its toll on her, nowadays she couldn't go longer than a moment without him being on her mind, he had all but consumed her and what saddened her was that he didn't even know it. And the likelihood is he never will.

But despite all of this though one thing would always remain clear to her.

She would never stop loving him.

...

A/N: Well that's the end of my first chapter, would love to hear what you think so please review. I'd preferably like to hear nice things though :)

_15.08.10_

_Recently had someone tell me that Togepi already evolved. I know, The Mirage Kingdom and all that. But lets be honest, who doesn't prefer Togepi over Azruill lol. The reason I stuck with Togepi was for all the pokeshipping fans who loved the original series but aren't keen on the new stuff. Togepi is a link back to the way Pokemon used to be for me so I kept him in. For anyone interested, I always imagined that Marill still had the baby Azruill but it stays with Professor Oak at the ranch where Tracy spends a lot of his time whenever he's not with Misty at the gym._

Hope that cleared that up :P


	2. An Unexpected Challenge

"I'm just going to step out for a bit!" Tracy shouted, hoping Misty could hear him from way up high on the diving board. She was very engrossed in her own thoughts though so it took her while to realise he was trying to get her attention.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Misty asked, feeling a bit stupid having to make him say it again.

"Just saying I've got to go out and get some stuff. Some kind of special glass cleaner for the aquarium that your sisters have told me to get. I'll be back later on this afternoon, apparently the shop's right on the other side of the city."

Oh okay, I'll see you later." She replied and she watched him run out the door.

Misty sighed to herself, she needed something to get her mind off him. She climbed down with Togepi in hand and through the back into the sitting room. (One perk of being a gym leader, you're never far away from home). She placed Togepi in his play pen, almost immediately he became enticed by the mobile covered in water Pokémon that was hanging off the wall. She decided that it was safe to leave him on his own here for a while, it would give her a chance to swim with the other Pokémon and clear her head.

Misty headed back to the pool and walked to the waters edge. She unzipped her hoodie, threw it too the floor and dived straight into the water. A familiar cold rush enveloped her body as she plunged into the icy water. She swam around aimlessly for a bit, admiring the underwater plant life and coral, before needing to come back up for air. Once she had caught her breath she was able to watch all the other Pokémon playing in the water around her. She smiled to herself, she was happy to see they were all having fun. She continued to float on the surface of the water, allowing her mind to wander back to the day she left his company. She wondered how her leaving made him feel, granted she could easily tell that he cared for her, but did he still, or have his feelings grown? It was funny to think that that day was almost three years ago now and she had only seen him once since then. The day he returned from the Hoenn region with Brock, May and Max, she had come to him, but who was to say that if she hadn't come and talked to Delia that day that she wouldn't have seen him at all. After all he had been very busy with the Battle Frontier and while he may have been very close to Cerulean City when on his way to the Battle Factory, she honestly couldn't see him stopping just to see someone like her.

Misty shook these thoughts out of her head. 'You're going down a bad road here Misty,' she said to herself, 'best not to dwell on this.' With that she swam to the edge of the water and pulled herself out of the water. However it was then when she realised she had forgotten a towel, all of which were kept on the other side of the gym. Fortunately, over waddled Psyduck carrying her favorite towel (blue with little Staryus on it). She smiled at Psyduck as he handed it to her and wandered off. 'Maybe he isn't as dumb as he comes across.' She picked up her hoodie and whilst drying herself off she headed back to check on Togepi. Sure enough, the little guy was asleep again. She decided not to wake him this time, she would be busy with the other Pokémon today so it was probably best that he rested whilst there was no one else there to take care of him.

Misty returned to the gym after completely drying herself off and changing into some normal clothes. She figured that she wasn't going in the pool again today and that there was no point in walking around in a bikini. She had changed into her yellow vest top and blue shorts with red suspenders, a little predictable, but they were comfy to wear. She began to make the Pokémon do lengths of the pool, the aim being to build up their stamina. She had noticed recently during battles if any of them took on any more than two opponents they really started to struggle and this wasn't acceptable to her. The Pokémon continued to do this for the best part of half an hour whilst Misty watched from the side of the pool, checking to make sure their technique was correct. They were all pretty tired though after their workout. Misty could see this and decided it would be best to give them a break for now.

"That was great guys, well done, you all deserve a good rest. We'll continue your training later today," she shouted across the pool to them all.

With that, one by one, the red light of their respective Pokéballs surrounded each of them as they were returned.

With the pool empty Misty decided she would catch up with some admin, since it now seemed that her sister wouldn't be doing it. This plan didn't last long though, as soon as she walked into the reception area she was greeted by the sight of a hooded character standing in the main doorway. Suffice to say, she way a bit surprised to see anyone at all come to the gym today but he looked like a trainer. This was a relief in a way actually, whilst she wasn't in the mood for battling today, maybe it was actually a battle she needed, just to get her mind off him for once.

"Hi there," she said to the hooded boy. "Are you here for a gym battle?"

"I guess you could say that." The boy replied.

His voice was much deeper than Misty was expecting it to be. She concluded he must be putting it on to make himself seem more intimidating. This made her laugh to herself as it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. She'd dealt with his type before, the ones who try to be hard as nails, it always ended up the same way. A very embarrassing run to the Pokémon Center with their tails between their legs.

"Alright then," she sniggered, having already decided in her head that this was going to end up like all those other battles. "Lets do this!"

The pool had been raised out of the floor in the same way it was when Daisy, Violet and Lily performed with both Misty and the mysterious trainer standing on one of the massive floats in the water each. Misty at the end nearest the diving board, the boy nearest the door.

"Alright!" Misty shouted across the arena, "This will be a three-on-three Pokémon battle, first to defeat three Pokémon wins!"

"Whenever you're ready," the boy replied in his 'surprisingly deep' voice.

Misty chuckled. 'This'll be over very quickly,' she thought to herself.

Misty started off by releasing her Staryu who, after the workout, was now raring to fight. The hooded trainer thew his Pokéball high into the air to reveal a Buizel. Misty had not battled this Pokémon before, obviously she knew of it being a fan of water Pokémon, but this was the first time she had been face to face with one. Still though from the looks of this guy it wasn't going to be difficult. The battle commenced. Misty launched a barrage of attacks at the Bruziel, yet to her astonishment it dodged every single one. 'This Pokémon's fast,' she thought to herself. It wasn't long before she could tell Staryu was getting tired, unfortunately Bruziel could see that too. The trainer didn't even have to react, once Bruziel saw an opening, it charged straight at Staryu with an Aqua Jet. It was a direct hit, and Staryu was sent flying across the pool. Misty reluctantly returned the now fainted Staryu to its Pokéball. She was shocked by the skill of this trainers Pokémon, the way that Bruziel knew exactly what to do without him even having to say anything was impressive, essentially fighting it's own battle. But even so, she was not going to let herself be beat by this nobody. Misty's next Pokémon was Corsola who was ready to avenge the defeat of it's friend. The trainer saw this and brought his Bruziel back, which he quickly replaced with a Staraptor. Misty wasted no time in engaging the new foe and commanded Corsola to use Spike Cannon. The Staraptor, without a word from its master countered with Wing Attack, blasting each burst of needles with a single swoop of its powerful wings. This stalemate did not last long though and before Misty could do anything to stop it Staraptor's Wing Attacks overpowered Corsola's Spike Cannon. Corsola started taking the full force of the attack, a force which it could not withstand for too long and as a result was defeated. By this point Misty was fuming with rage, she was not about to beaten by some nobody trainer on a day like today. She needed something good to happen and he was not going to take that away from her. She knew it was time for her secret weapon, a Pokémon who rarely saw gym battles and was only brought out at times like these.

"You're not gonna beat me!" She cried, "Not today!"

The trainer merely smirked to himself.

Misty clenched her fist in frustration to his response, enough was enough, time to send him home.

"Go Gyarados!" She shouted.

With that a mighty roar filled the entirety of the gym shaking the ground as the 'Atrocious' Pokémon was released from it's ball. Misty felt confident that Gyarados could take anything this guy could throw at it. But she was wrong. The trainer simply recalled Staraptor, despite it being un-phased by its new opponent, and smiled to himself. He reached behind to retrieve his next Pokéball and stood there throwing it lightly up and down in the air as he eyed Misty's prized Pokémon. Suddenly he tossed the ball high into the air, as it rose Misty could see an engraving on the front of it in the shape of a lightening bolt. Before she had time to think anymore the ball opened to reveal who she would be facing next. A Pikachu appeared in the air and before she could even speak it launched the most powerful Thunderbolt attack she had ever seen in her life. She could only watch as her Gyarados was subject to this attack and she knew all was lost. Gyarados laid there in the aftermath, defeated.

With the defeat of her last Pokémon the pool arena lowered itself into the floor, bringing both trainers back to ground level. They both walked round to the edge of the pool to meet each other. As he walked towards her the Pikachu she had just faced ran up and jumped on the trainer's shoulder. When she saw that she started to piece together the puzzle: The Sinnoh Pokémon, the Pokéball with an engraved lightening bolt, the Pikachu on his shoulder. Even the Pikachu itself seemed all to familiar to her.

"That was a great battle Misty," the trainer said. He had now stopped using the obviously fake deep voice and all of a sudden she knew who he was.

"Yeah it was, but can I ask, who are you? I mean, have we met before?"

"Well, I suppose you could say we have."

The trainer proceeded to remove his hood and as he did Misty discovered that her prediction was correct.

She stood there frozen to the spot, shocked, she couldn't believe it.

It was him.

...

A/N: Well here's the second chapter hope you like it, please review :)

By the way I am aware I have only referred to a certain character as "Him." Don't worry, all will be revealed in the next chapter. (If you haven't already figured it out)!

Next chapter now up, check it out...


	3. Doesn't Time Fly

"ASH!" Misty said with utter disbelief on her face.

"The one and only." He replied.

"Wait but...When?...How?...You?...Why?"

Misty was in such shock as a result of Ash's arrival that she found herself unable to finish even one of these questions. She was stunned, why was he here? Why had he come to see her? How was this even happening? She couldn't get her head round any of this. He was supposed to be in Sinnoh at the moment, right? The Pokémon League finals were coming up and if he was here, how was he going to compete?

"W...W...what are you doing here?" She blurted out.

"I came to see you obviously." He answered.

"B...But the Sinnoh league?"

"Over."

"What?"

"Yeah, I won."

"HUH?"

"Oh god Misty, have I overloaded your brain?" Ash said jokingly. "Come here."

With that Ash pulled the perplexed Misty into his arms and held her tight. It had been so long since he had seen her and he had missed her dearly. Misty was still struggling to get her head around what had just happened, but when she realised Ash was hugging her she forgot about her confusion as she got lost in the moment. In his arms she was actually able to think clearly and she couldn't believe what was happening, but she didn't care how it was happening, it wasn't important, what was important though was that Ash was here, with her.

As Ash released her Misty calmed herself down, she had to find out just what was going on.

"Ash, why are you here? What happened with the Sinnoh league, did you say you won?"

"Yeah the League was over last week," he replied, "I came in first. You are now looking at the new Sinnoh Champion."

"Oh my god Ash that's amazing, congratulations!" Misty answered.

It had always been his dream to be a Pokémon Master and now he was one. She did however feel bad that she hadn't seen this on the television and that she hadn't been following him in the Sinnoh League. Come to think of it, she had been so busy with the gym recently she hadn't even known that it had started till now. Talk about losing track of time. Regardless, Misty hugged him again to show her excitement for his success, she was so happy for him. As she let him go she looked up to ask him,

"So what are you doing here then? I would have assumed you be home in Pallet Town right about now if you've just finished in Sinnoh."

"Well," said Ash, "I've actually already been home briefly, just to see mum and Professor Oak but Brock had some business he had to take care of at the gym so I thought I'd come and surprise you here whilst he takes care of everything back home."

"Aww I knew you couldn't stand to be without me." Misty joked, but before Ash could answer they were both deafened by the sound of three shrieking girls.

"WE'RE BACK!"

Daisy, Violet and Lily had just come through the doors laden with a countless amount of bags. 'Perfect timing,' Misty sighed to herself as they came over to greet her.

"Busy day?" Daisy asked, but before she could even finish the question she realised who else was in their company.

"Like oh my god, it's like Ash!" They all exclaimed.

"What are you doing here fighting Misty?" Violet asked. "Don't you like already have this gym's badge?"

"Yeah." Answered Lily, "He like totally beat Misty the first time he was here."

"NO!" Misty snapped at them, "He didn't beat me, Team Rocket turned up half way through the battle and then YOU decided to just give him the badge."

"Whatever Misty, he would still have beaten you." Daisy countered.

Ash stood there between the sisters laughing nervously.

"Well, I don't know about that." He said in an attempt to quell the argument.

The three older sisters just shrugged, they all knew that regardless of that battle Ash had just beaten her so he could officially have the badge without anyone else interrogating him about it.

"So Ash why have you come here?" Daisy asked.

"I'm just back from Sinnoh so I thought I'd come and surprise Misty." Ash explained.

"Aww, see Misty someone does care about you." The three sisters joked.

Misty replied by scowling at them. They saw this and backed off, despite being their little sister, she could still scare them when she needed to.

"Well, that's nice of you." Violet said to Ash in the hope that misty would stop giving them her patented 'Death Stare.'

Ash chuckled slightly.

"Well I thought so." He replied.

"Oh!" Daisy gasped, completely out of the blue, as she pulled the other two sister into a circle with her. Ash and Misty were left one the outside looking very confused as to Daisy's unusual outburst. They both watched as the they stood there whispering to each other. Misty started to get a little bit worried though, she could only imagine what kind of plan they were concocting. She looked at Ash who, of course, was looking completely oblivious to the potential cynicism of what they were doing. She smiled to herself, she thought it was cute that he was still a little dense, but she remained on her guard as she knew that whatever her sisters were thinking, it was going to involve the two of them.

Daisy, Violet and Lily sprung out from their little group to confront the two young trainers. Misty braced herself for whatever they were about to say.

"We've just had like the most awesome idea ever." Said Daisy in a very exuberant manner.

"Yeah," Violet followed, "why don't the two of you go out for the day and like catch up?"

"What?" Misty asked, she had not been expecting them to say this and hence was a little taken aback by their idea. But it didn't matter what she thought because before she to think, her and Ash were being herded out of the door by the three sisters.

"Wait, but what about the Gym?" Misty shouted at them as they headed toward the main entrance.

"Don't worry Misty, we can look after it for like one afternoon." Said Lily.

"Yeah...But...Wait…"

'SLAM!'

Misty didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence before the doors to the Gym were shut behind them. Now she was alone with Ash.

The two of them shuffled around awkwardly, adjusting to their new situation. Despite having traveled for so long together in the past, it was actually very rare that they found themselves alone with each other. Misty decided she'd had enough of this uncomfortableness and took the initiative.

"So why don't we go for that walk then and, you know, catch up?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Ash replied.

Misty smiled and they headed to the north of the city.

"You need to tell me all about Sinnoh." she said as they started to walk off.

They ended up heading out of Cerulean City and on to Route 24. They headed across the Nugget Bridge where stopped to admire the Goldeen and Seaking swimming around them. Ash went on to tell Misty all of his stories from his travels; from all the battles he had fought in, to how he had acquired each of his new Pokémon. Misty was particularly warmed when Ash told her the story of how he captured his Bruziel. He had mentioned that he had used the special lure she had gifted him when he was competing in the Battle Frontier. She was even more surprised to see he still had it with him when he got it out of his bag to show her. It must mean a lot to him for him to still carried it around she thought.

They continued to walk as Ash proceeded to tell her about all the friends and rivals he had met along the way. He paid particular attention to Dawn as she had traveled with him all over Sinnoh. He told Misty all about her participation in Contests and even the Grand Festival. Ash spoke very highly of her, despite being a few years younger than him and Brock, he made her out to be a very close friend.

Before long Misty and Ash found themselves at the Cerulean Cape, they had not been aiming to arrive there in particular but it still seemed like a good place to stop. Misty was well known in Cerulean City for going up there a lot, it was not uncommon for passersby to see her there looking out onto the ocean. She had always loved this place, it was so secluded and peaceful, she would literally spend hours upon hours of just looking out at the picturesque sea view. She would often go up there when she needed to clear her head, where she could get away from everything and just be alone with her thoughts. She had spent much time there over the last couple of year there as a result of leaving Ash, but she took solace in that for once he was a positive reason for her being there.

Misty watched as Ash took off his blue hoodie and ran up the steps to the main vantage point with Pikachu in hot pursuit.

"Come on Misty!" he shouted from the top of the steps, "Come and check out this view!"

Misty smiled, of course she had seen it before, but he wouldn't have known that. Plus it would be nice to look out at it with him by her side. She had always seen the cape as being a very romantic place at the right moment, especially when the sun rises over the horizon and creates sparkles across the ripples in the ocean making the light dance in front of you. She had dreamed of experiencing this one day with Ash by her side, and whilst she knew she wouldn't see the sun rise now due to it being late afternoon, she still couldn't help but hope to witness something a little bit magical when she was with him at the top of the steps.

"Alright I'm coming!" she shouted back, running up the steps to catch up with him.

When she reached the top Ash was already across the way, having dropped his hoodie on the floor, leaning on the fence looking out at the ocean with his back to her. Pikachu had curled up in his hoodie in an attempt to get comfortable. Misty approached him slowly so not to disturb his thoughts. She walked up next to him and looked out in the same direction.

"Beautiful isn't it." She said to him whilst looking out onto the ocean.

Ash turned and smiled at her, "You said it." He replied.

Misty smiled back and they both turned back to admire the the view before them and stood there in marvel of it. They stayed like this for quite some time, neither one of them seeming to be able to take their eyes of this wonder of nature. Misty was the first to break her gaze as she turned back towards Ash. She felt an aura of peace radiate from him as she watched him. He looked so deep in thought to her, this was new to her, she had never seen Ash act this way about anything before. In a way his reaction to the amazing view in front of him made him seem more mature than how she remembered him, he had clearly changed during his journey in Sinnoh. He had left the boy she rememberd: cocky and a little hard headed, but with a deep passion for the things he loved, and had come back a more mature and more well-rounded person, still with that deep passion. She watched as his hair blew in the ocean breeze and his eyes shined from the light reflected off the water and she remembered why she loved him so much. She had loved everything about him from the past and to see that he had become what she saw in him now made her love for him even deeper. She turned back towards the ocean before he noticed she was staring at him but as she did she couldn't help but smile over what she had just realised, her feelings for Ash had only gotten stronger and that after so long he was back with her. This time round though she wasn't going to let him get away, not even her sisters would stop her!

Ash turned around and jumped up to sit on the top bar of the fence, after he had finished admiring the ocean, so that now he was facing the way that they had come from. Misty saw this and turned and leaned up against the same section of fence next to him to see what it was the he was looking at now.

"Oh my god," said Ash, "how far have we walked?"

Misty laughed. "Apparently a long way." She said to him.

The pair turned to each other and began to crack up over the idea that neither one of them had been keeping track on how far they had walked. Ash had been so caught up in telling his stories he hadn't been paying attention to where her was going. Misty had been just as bad, she had been so engrossed by everything Ash had been telling her that it was a miracle that she hadn't walked into or fall over anything whilst he had been taking to her!

"We should probably start heading back soon," Misty said after they had both calmed down, "Pikachu's starting to look tired."

Ash turned to Pokémon who was lying inside Ash's discarded hoodie. He realised Pikachu had been relatively quiet up till this point. They both watched as Pikachu let out a very loud yawn.

"Ppppppiiiiiikkkkkkaaaaaa!"

Ash chuckled slightly, "Yeah, I think you're right." He replied. "Shall we head off now then, before it gets too dark?"

"Probably would be a good idea." Sighed Misty. She was enjoying her time with Ash and wasn't ready to leave yet, but she knew she had to, to be home before dark. "Come on, I know a shortcut from here back home."

Ash picked up his hoodie and carried the now very tired Pikachu inside it in his arms. As he was about to leave he noticed Misty still standing where she had been before, looking out to the ocean again.

"Hey Mist, you coming?" He called to her.

She took a moment to respond, Ash wondered what was going through her mind. Why wasn't she coming yet? He walked towards her.

"Everything okay Misty?" He asked her, but before he had had the chance to reach her she had turned around and began to walk in his direction towards the stairs.

"Yep everything fine." She replied smiling at him, "Come on, lets get a move on."

Fair enough she seemed okay, but as she walked past him, Ash couldn't help but notice the remains of tears reflecting the light off her face. He was about to ask her about this but before he had the chance, Misty had walked straight past him and towards the steps. Ash thought it best in that case not to bring it up, it clearly wasn't something she wanted to talk about whatever it was. 'Probably just some kind of girl problem that I wouldn't be able to help with anyway.' He thought.

Ash ran down the steps to catch up with Misty, who was already heading in a different direction to the one they had come. When he did manage to catch up with her he noticed that she had dried her face, but did not think anything of it.

"Could have waited for me." Said Ash in a joking manner.

"Well, if we've got to get back to Cerulean City we need to hurry up don't we." Replied Misty in an equally jokey fashion.

The two smiled at each other and continued to walk back towards the City via Misty's shortcut.

Ash and Misty got back to the Cerulean City Gym just as the light from the sun disappeared behind the silhouette of Mt. Moon. Misty was glad to see that her sisters had not locked the door as in their rush to get them out, she had not had the chance to pick up a key.

"So Ash where about in town are you staying?" Misty asked.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot to sort that out." Replied an embarrassed looking Ash. "You see, when I came to the Gym this morning I had literally just walked into town. So I kinda haven't sorted anywhere out."

Ash began to laugh nervously and rub the back of his neck in the hope to look more innocent.

Misty laughed. "Ash Ketchum, honestly how do you cope in life? Come on we have a spare bedroom, you can stay with us."

Ash's face lit up with a big cheesy grin. "Thank you." He replied.

Misty giggled to herself some more at the sight of Ash's massive smile which literally stretched from ear to ear.

They both walked upstairs to where the bedrooms where. Misty's room was on the right of the corridor, the guest room was directly opposite on the left.

"Okay Ash, this is your room here." Said Misty directing him to the room on the left.

"Cool, is that your room there?" Ash ask gesturing towards the room on the right.

"Yep, so I don't want you waking me up in the middle of the night got it." Misty joked.

"Ha ha, don't worry I'll try not to." Replied Ash. "Thank you for this Misty, I really appreciate what you're doing for me."

"Aww don't worry about it. Just let me know if there's anything else you need."

Ash smiled and placed the now sleeping Pikachu down next to him bag. He then, to her surprise, took Misty in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"It's great to finally see you again." He whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, it good to see you too." Misty replied, tightening her grip around Ash as she got accustomed to the situation she was in.

"Good night." He whispered to her as he released her, picked up his things (including Pikachu) and headed into his room.

Misty went into her room also and closed the door behind her, leaning back against it as she did. She leant there for a moment as she took in what had just happened and what it had felt like. She did not wanted him to let go, she did not want it to end. She loved the feel of his arms around her, but she knew it would have had to have end eventually. Still, it was a moment she would not forget easily.

"Sweet Dreams Ash." She whispered, smiling, as she headed for her bed.

...

A/N: Well there's chapter three, this one took me a bit longer to write as it's about 1,000 words extra compared to my other chapters.

Please continue to let me know what you think with your review (I'm Loving reading them) :)

Also, I'm looking for somebody to Beta Read this story, I'm still new to the website so not sure how to apply/contact potential Beta Readers, but if you are one and would like to Beta Read this for me Please send me a message and we'll sort something out.

Thanks for reading this, and again, please let me know what you think. :)

PS: To all of you wondering about Pikachu being in his Pokeball in the last chapter, dont worry i do know he hates it in there, all will be explained in the next chapter.

Next chapter now up, check it out...


	4. A New Journey

**Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.**

**Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.**

Misty awoke to the sound of her alarm once again. This time however she knew where the noise was coming from and so was able to quickly sweep it off the table resulting in a large smashing sound as the clock hit the ground. She smirked to herself thinking finally she didn't have to listen to the incessant buzzing every single time she woke up.

This feeling of victory however was short lived when she remembered her current situation. Misty sat bolt upright as her brain started to process what had happened last night. Ash was staying at the gym and so would be here now when she went downstairs! This made her nervous as she still couldn't believe he was here, but she knew she couldn't stay in her room all day though, she would eventually have to see him, so she decided to tackle this new situation head on.

Misty got herself out of bed and walked over to Togepi who was lying in his bed sleeping still. Her sisters had brought him up the night before, before Ash and Misty had returned for the Cerulean Cape. She proceeded to wake the sleeping Pokémon but left him in his bed to give him a chance to open his eyes. Whilst Togepi adjusted to the surroundings, Misty went over to her wardrobe to find something to put on to go downstairs in. She grabbed a pair of Jean shorts and a light blue T-shirt, nothing too fancy, just something to wear whilst she had her breakfast. Misty didn't feel completely comfortable with having Ash see her in her pajamas, she would feel too self-conscious, realizing they were quite 'skimpy' upon reflection. Not in a dirty way, she had been wearing a blue, strappy vest top with a pair of matching shorts because it had been a hot night and she'd wanted to stay cool, but she still felt she wouldn't be comfortable wearing that in front of Ash at the breakfast table.

Misty picked up Togepi and headed down to the kitchen. When she got there she was greeted by Daisy who was already up.

"Morning Misty." Daisy said, upon noticing her younger sisters arrival.

"Morning Daisy." Misty replied, "Are you the only one up so far?"

"Yep, been up since 4am. I've got like this major audition this morning and it takes a while to look this fabulous!"

Misty just laughed a little in an awkward manner as she tried to move past her sisters cockiness over her own looks. She made her way to the table and poured herself a bowl of cereal.

"So Ash hasn't woken up yet?" she asked Daisy.

"What? He's here?" Daisy said in shock. "Well, well, well, bringing boys home now are we?"

"NO! It's just...Emm...he needed a place to sleep for the night." Misty attempted to argued back.

"Mmm if you say so, but don't try to tell me you didn't want him to stay."

Misty just looked down into her bowl sheepishly and ate her cereal. Of course she wanted Ash here, if it meant he would be in her life again he could stay here as long as he liked. But she knew he wouldn't be here forever, he had only come here to surprise her before going back to Pallet Town anyway.

Once she had finished her breakfast she took her bowl over to the dish washer and poured herself a cup of coffee while Daisy headed out of the room to go check on the Pokémon who were just waking up. Misty lent up against the counter and watched as Togepi ate his food from the bowl on the floor, when she heard footsteps coming from above her, moving towards the stairs leading to the kitchen. She could guess who it was, and sure enough, a sleepy eyed Ash appeared from the other side of the door. As he came into the kitchen he stretched and let out a massive yawn.

"Hey Ash, did you sleep well?" Misty asked the still half asleep boy in front of her.

Ash merely grunted in her general direction to acknowledge that she was there.

Misty laughed, "I'll take that as a yes. Here I made you some coffee.

"Thanks." Ash said groggily as Misty handed him his cup.

Misty was amazed, Ash was less of a morning person than her! He took the cup off her and took a sip from it. Misty moved from her position on the counter to the chair next to the window, Togepi saw this and when he had finished his breakfast went over to join his mother. Misty saw the excited Pokémon coming towards her and bent down to pick him up. She cradled Togepi in her arms whilst she drank her coffee and watched the people passing through the window.

When she turned back to look at Ash, he had already finished his coffee and was now raring to get on with the day.

"So, you're awake now?" Asked Misty as Ash put his cup away.

"Yep. Coffee helps." Ash replied with a smile on his face. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. If you want a shower or anything like that, the bathroom is upstairs, you're more than welcome to use it."

"Are you saying I stink!"

"No...I…"

"How rude of you Misty, honestly."

Of course Ash was not being serious but Misty couldn't tell this to start with. Her cheeks were getting redder and redder as she thought she had really hurt his feelings, but this feeling of embarrassment did not last as it wasn't long before Ash broke his glare and began to laugh.

"Just kidding." Laughed Ash, "Thank you, I'll be back down soon."

He exited the kitchen leaving Misty alone with Togepi feeling very confused over what had just happened, but once she had taken it in and realised it was just Ash being Ash, she laughed. She turned back to admire the view from out of her window whilst she finished her coffee. She smiled, she felt comforted that whilst the boy she had known all those years ago had become more mature and well rounded, there were still parts of him that hadn't changed one bit. Only now he was a champion, a title which had eluded him for so long, and she couldn't have been prouder of him for achieving it.

Misty finished her drink off and headed upstairs to finish getting herself ready. Fortunately she had an en-suite shower in the bedroom so she didn't have to wait for Ash to finish up first. Whilst she showered she thought of Ash, she figured he would have to leave soon to return to Pallet Town, but she wasn't ready for him to leave. The water running down her body mixed with the tears that began to stream down her face, he had only just come back into her life and she already couldn't imagine her life without him again, and she didn't want to. The very thought of being away from him again made her body ache. She resulted to curling up in a ball on the floor of the shower, crying into her arms. The warm water covered her with a warm sensation all over her body as it fell from above her which, in her current mind set, was the only comfort she felt. Ash couldn't leave now, he just couldn't she thought.

Once she could bring herself to stand again, she got out of the shower and dried herself off with her Staryu towel and change into her yellow vest top and blue Jean shorts with red suspenders. She also tied her hair back into her side ponytail style. As she walked into the gym with Togepi she saw Ash standing by the water's edge peering into the pool, watching the Pokémon swim around. He was already completely washed, dressed and appeared to be ready to go. 'I must have been in the shower longer than I imagined,' she thought as she walked over to meet him.

Hey, what are you up to?" Misty asked as she looked into the water next to him to see what he was looking at.

"Nothing, just watching your Dewgong. Daisy's letting it out for a swim." Said Ash, still peering into the pool.

"Ah okay. Hey, I've got a question for you"

"Sure Mist, what is it?"

"Why did you battle me yesterday?"

"Oh yeah that." Ash laughed, "I guess I wanted to make a big entrance or something like that. My plan was to completely surprise you."

"Ha ha, okay. Well, it worked" laughed Misty, "But how did you get Pikachu into his Pokéball? Last time I saw you try that, he wouldn't go anywhere near it.

"Well, actually that's something I'm quite proud of." Ash explained, "I didn't want you to see Pikachu straight away obviously as you know it was me. So I had to get him his Pokéball, and well, there was only one way I could make him do that."

"Oh yeah, and what was that?"

"Ketchup."

"Ketchup?"

"Yep, Ketchup."

At which point Pikachu entered the gym from the kitchen holding a bottle of ketchup to his mouth, drinking from it like there was no tomorrow. Ash and Misty could only turn to each and burst into laughter at the sight of this.

"Yeah, I had to promise him Ketchup every day for a month to get him into that damn ball." Said Ash.

"Ha ha, oh dear. Well, lets hope he doesn't get too fat because of it." Laughed Misty. But as Misty said this, she noticed again that Ash had gotten all of his things together. He was leaving? No, he can't be he only just got here yesterday. He can't go.

"Are you leaving already?" She asked, begging that he didn't say what she feared the most.

"Emm, yeah I am. But not to go back to Pallet Town, that's the actual reason I'm here." Said Ash.

"What do you mean Ash?" Misty asked inquisitively.

"Well," Ash began, "me and Brock are going on a bit of a holiday. We've decided to go to the Johto region for a while, not to battle or anything like that, just to get away from it all essentially. Plus it gives me a chance to hide from the fans for a while, they're so exhausting, seriously they're everywhere. And, well, I guess I was kinda wondering if you'd like to come with us. I...I mean _we_ miss you, and we thought it would be nice, if you could, for the three of us to, you know, travel together again."

Misty was completely taken aback by Ash's offer, she would never have expected he was going to ask her something like that, she was speechless. She had wanted an opportunity like this to come for so long, finally a second chance to travel with Ash. But her heart sank, how could she? She was the Cerulean City gym leader, she couldn't just give up her post, she had a duty to the gym. But she wanted to go with him _so_ bad. Her mind raced to think of a way to solve the problem. 'There must be a way round this,' she thought, but alas, no matter how much she racked her brain she couldn't think of anything.

"Ash, I'd love to," she said with her head hung, "but I can't. I can't just leave the gym like that, it would close down. I'm sorry."

"Oh, of course." Ash said, disappointed. "That's a real shame, I was looking forward to getting the old group back together."

"Yeah." Replied Misty, still with her head hung, now trying to hide the tears the were beginning to form. "Err...I have to go."

"Wait Misty!"

Before Ash could say anything else, Misty had ran back towards the kitchen, tears now falling down her face. She couldn't believe the one time she gets the chance to be with him again, she has no choice but to say no. She was so frustrated but there was nothing she could do. She ran into the kitchen where Daisy, Violet and Lily were now all up. Misty couldn't control herself and ran straight into her sisters' arms. They were all shocked to see her burst in like this.

"Misty whats wrong?" asked Daisy.

"Yeah," followed Violet, "like, what's happened?"

Misty couldn't speak yet, she was too upset. She just stood there in her sisters' arms for a bit longer until she was able to explain what had happened.

"Ash invited me to go to Johto with him and Brock." she sobbed.

The three sisters looked at each other confused.

"But surely that's like a good thing." Said Lily.

"Yeah," followed Daisy. "Why is it making you this upset?"

"Because if I go obviously, who would look after the gym? I can't just leave this place."

Daisy, Violet and Lily all empathised with their disheartened sister. They all looked at each other and nodded, they knew what they had to do.

"We'll look after the gym Misty." Said Daisy.

"What?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, we'll take care of it for you." Followed Violet.

"But why? What about your careers as Actress/Models?"

"Because you're our baby sister." Answered Lily.

"And because we know how much he means to you." Said Violet. "Besides, we have all the time in the world to become the greatest Actress/Models ever. Your chance with Ash is now."

Misty couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was being given the chance to go with Ash. She was stunned by the kindness of her older sisters. She threw herself back into their embrace crying tears of joy.

"Thank you. Thank you." She said to them between sobs.

"No Problem." Responded Daisy. "Now go get you stuff, we'll explain the plan to Ash."

"Okay, okay." Misty said drying her eyes. "I'll be back down in a minute."

Misty ran upstairs after leaving Togepi with her sisters so she could pack her things. She ran around her room grabbing everything she would need: Sleeping bag, Wash stuff, spare clothes (well after all it was a holiday). Once she had packed she ran back down to the gym to grab her Pokémon. She packed Politoed, Corsola, Gyarados, Staryu and Psyduck. Despite Psyduck being completely inept, she had become very fond of him over the years, besides, her sisters wouldn't let her leave him with them, he's far too high maintenance for them to handle! She ran to the entrance to the gym where Daisy, Violet, Lily, Togepi and Ash were waiting for her.

"Hey Misty, Daisy tells me that she's gonna look ofter the gym for you so you can come with us."

"I know." Misty said looking up at her sister. "Isn't it great."

"Yeah it is." Replied Ash, smiling at her.

Misty smiled back, she was so happy to be able to go with him. But because of this she knew she had to say goodbye to her sisters, at least for the time being.

Misty turned to her sisters who were all starting to show their sadness for her leaving. She hugged them tight and whispered to them, so that Ash couldn't hear.

"Thank you for this. You have no idea how much the means to me."

"Don't worry Misty." Daisy whispered back, "You just make sure you have a good time with him. I hope it all works out for you."

"I will do, and Thank you."

With that Misty took Togepi from Violet, then they all exchanged one final look before Ash and Misty turned their backs on the Cerulean City Gym and walked away.

They walked to the southern most point of the city outskirts where Ash explained he had arranged to meet Brock but by the time they got there he was already there. As soon as Brock could make him out, he started waving frantically.

"Hey!" He shouted to them, clearly very glad to see Misty with Ash. Misty and Ash ran to meet him when they saw this. Misty may have come on this journey to spend time with Ash, but she was still very happy that she got to see Brock again.

"Hey Brock." Said Misty when she had reached, "Long time no see."

"I know." He replied, "It's good to see you. You look well."

"Thanks, as do you."

"Well, would you look at this." Said Ash, "The three of us together again. How long has it been since we were like this before?"

"Too Long." Misty Said.

"Ha ha, You're right there." Laughed Brock. "Come on, we've gotta move if we want to make the train."

"Train?" Asked Misty.

"Yeah, I've booked three tickets for the magnet train that runs between Saffron City and Goldenrod City. It was either that, or a boat ride. But since the last time we were in Vermillion City the cruise didn't go so I thought this would be better."

"Ha ha ha, yeah sounds like a plan." Laughed Misty. "Wait a second, three tickets? What if I couldn't have come, like I almost couldn't?"

"I was gonna make you come." Replied Ash.

Misty smiled at him, she knew he said it in a jokey fashion but she could tell there was meaning behind it and this warmed her. It made here even happier that she was traveling with him again, especially now she knew he really wanted her to travel with him as well.

"Alright then, lets go!" said Ash, "Next stop, Saffron City!"

Misty smiled at Ash's excitement. The three of them set off heading south from Cerulean City. As Misty crossed the city boarders she turned back to have one last look at the city where she had felt trapped for the last three years, then turned around to catch up with the others. 'No looking back now,' she thought to herself, but she didn't care because all that mattered was that she was with Ash and no longer felt lost without him in her life. But this time, things were going to be different, she was never going to let him go.

...

A/N: Well there you go my 4th chapter, now you can start to see where im going with this story!

Hope you all liked it, please review to let me know :)

On a side note I'm looking to get this story some more (for lack of a better word) publicity on this site. If anyone reading this manages a Community for this kind of story (Pokeshipping etc.) and would like to add my story to it I'd love it if you would PM me. Alternatively, if anyone could tell me how else to get my story onto a community i'd really appreciate that (as, and i know i keep saying this, im still new to this site and have no idea how communities work)! :P

I hope no one thinks I'm too cheeky to ask about this. If you do, sorry! :P

Thanks for reading this story. My next chapter will be up as soon as possible.


	5. One Way to Goldenrod

The group had been traveling down Route 5 for a couple of days now and already things were just like they used to be. The three of them where laughing and joking just like before and Misty couldn't be happier, she was finally back where she felt she belonged. She had felt at home at in Cerulean City, but she had missed traveling so much that the city she had grown up in felt like it had become her prison. She had been trapped there for so long that she could barely remember what it had felt like to be with him. She remembered how she felt about him, that had never changed, but she had started to forget all of the things she had felt on their journeys, how all the little things they had done together had made her feel. But finally Ash had liberated her and broken the chains that her sisters had, unintentionally, shackled her in. She was now free, and she as loving every minute of it.

"Ahhhhhh!" Ash yawned, "How far is it to Saffron? We've been walking for days."

"We're almost there." Brock said, attempting to be reassuring.

"But you said that two hours ago." Ash complained.

"Oh honestly Ash, we'll get there when we get there." Misty interrupted.

Brock continued to walk ahead whilst Ash and Misty continued to bicker. Even he could take comfort in this knowing that nothing had changed between the three of them. Ash and Misty resolved their squabble eventually in the usual way, they simply turned their noses up at each other and didn't talk to one another till they had both cooled off enough. Brock knew they were both as hot headed as each other and that whenever they argued, no one ever won.

Misty broke her silence first after a while when she noticed a group of travelers coming from the opposite direction.

"Hey look, people. We must be going the right way." She said trying to reassure Ash that they were, in fact, on the right path. Hopefully now if she was nice to him, he would stop ignoring her. She hated when they fought like this. She knew they did this a lot and that after all this time it didn't mean that much, it was just what happened when they disagreed over something. But she would still feel disheartened when he was like this with her, even when it was her own fault. This time especially as she had initiated the fight.

"Thank god." Replied Ash.

This reassured Misty, at least he was talking now.

"Wait…" Said Ash cautiously.

"What is it Ash?" Asked Misty.

"Shh, don't talk to them, just keep walking." Ash said as he pulled his hat over his eyes so he couldn't be seen. Misty and Brock were confused by this but they went with it. As the two groups passed Misty and Brock were surprised to see so many girls traveling in one group, but per Ash's request they did not engage them and kept walking. Misty realised though that this was especially hard for Brock who had to hold himself back from gorping at every single one of them. As they passed the last person Misty looked back to see that one of the girls at the back of the group was holding a photo frame, with Ash's picture in it.

"Who were they?" Misty asked him.

"Are they gone?" Ash whispered.

"Yeah, you can relax now." Misty replied sarcastically. "Why did one of them have a photo of you?"

"It's The Vermillion City Pokémon Trainer Fan Club. Since I became champion they haven't left me alone. My mum has had like fifty phone calls from them, trying to meet me. They were at the Sinnoh League when they heard a trainer from Kanto was competing. They even chased me out of the Pokémon League building, but fortunately I managed to lose them in Victory Road."

"Oh god." Said Misty.

"So they're a little obsessed then?" Said Brock

"Yeah, I guess you could say tha…"

But before Ash could finish his sentence, the three of them were deafened by the sound of about twenty screaming, teenage girls. Ash turned his head round reluctantly toward the direction they had just walked.

"Oh no."

All they could see was this massive dust cloud heading towards them being made by the stampeding feet of his crazed fans.

"Is that?" Misty asked nervously.

"Yeah." Replied Ash with fear in his voice. "Run. Run, run, run, run, RUN, RUN, RUN!"

The three of them ran as fast as they could in the direction the fan club had come from, hoping that they had come from Saffron City, their feet throwing up even more dust than the all the girls chasing them put together.

Eventually Ash, Misty and Brock were able to lose them by diving behind a group of trees as they rounded a corner. The girls continued chasing in the direction they thought the three of them had ran.

"Phew, that was close." Said Ash trying to catch his breath.

"So you actually have fans now." Misty laughed, also trying to breathe. "Well, I never thought I'd see the day."

"Oh, shove off." Replied Ash in a jokey fashion, shoving her slightly as a punishment for making fun of him.

"Hey guys look," Said Brock, "we're here."

They realised that they had all been chased right to the gates of Saffron City which was really convenient, at least now they didn't have to worry about being lost, so getting chased was actually a good thing.

"Ha ha well that's good news." Said Misty. "But wait a second, what time is it?"

"Emm 10:53 am." Ash said, checking his watch. "Why?"

"What time does the train leave Brock." Misty asked.

"One second, I'll check" Brock replied sifting through his backpack for the tickets, "Err, oh dear."

"What?" Asked Ash.

"The train leaves at 11:02 am"

"Well, we better get moving then." Said Misty gathering up all of her stuff which she had dropped whilst diving for cover.

"Agreed." Replied Ash and Brock and they all picked up their stuff and ran through the city gates. Fortunately the Train Station was in the north of the city so they didn't have to run far. It was 10:59 am by the time they got to the station and they didn't waste any time, rushing straight through the check in desk and onto the train, getting there with a minute to spare. This was a relief as the magnet train ran automatically so it was going at 11:02 am no matter what!

"Another close call." Said Ash catching his breath once again. "I don't think I can keep going like this."

"Well, the good news is you won't have to." Brock said reassuringly. "We won't be arriving in Goldenrod City till late afternoon so you have some time to catch your breath."

"Unless Ash's loyal fan base decided to hop aboard here as well." Joked Misty.

"What! They haven't have they? Please tell me you didn't see them." Said a very nervous Ash.

"Oh relax, I'm just messin' with ya." Laughed Misty.

"Thank god." Said a now calming Ash. "Don't do that again."

"Mmm, we'll see." Replied Misty in a sinister voice. "We'll see…"

They all laughed together as the train departed for the Johto region. Brock and Misty began to load their luggage into the compartments so that it was out of the way while Ash went to scope out the buffet car. He enjoyed playing to his strengths! He came back around fifteen minutes later laden with sandwiches and packets of crisps for them all for their lunch. He had also, through some miracle, managed to carry three cups of tea on top of all of this food. Needless to say, Misty and Brock were impressed.

"Here you go." Said Ash dropping the supplies onto the table in front of him.

"You think you got enough?" Misty asked him.

"What? I'm hungry." Replied Ash innocently as he began to tuck into a chicken sandwich.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He added, and pulled out a couple of small, red packets from his pocket. Both Misty and Brock watched this inquisitively in the hope to discover what these packets were. But Ash didn't hold onto them long, as soon as they were visible they could all only watch as Pikachu sprang up from the floor and grabbed them from Ash's hands. From this Misty could work out what they were and watch as the Pokémon opened each of them and squeezed their contents into his mouth.

"So you're still a man of your word then." Misty said to Ash as she watched Pikachu drain the last ketchup packet dry.

"I don't have a choice, if I don't give it to him he'll shock me." Laughed Ash.

Misty giggled. "Yeah, I can imagine he would."

The three of them tucked into the lunch that Ash had provided for them whilst enjoying the view of the rolling countryside through the window. As they ate they took turns picking out landmarks they could see. From the train they were able to see Mt. Moon, the faint outline of Pewter City and even the Indigo Plateau, high up in the mountains.

"So then where shall we go when we get to Goldenrod?" Ash asked once they had all finished their lunch. "Brock didn't you say a while ago that you needed to do something in particular?"

"Yeah actually." He replied. "If we don't have anywhere else to go, I need to make my way down to Olivine City at some point. I have to meet with Jasmine the gym leader there."

"Really?" Asked Misty, curious as she also was a gym leader. "What is it about? Oh god, you're not going to go hit on her again are you?"

Brock laughed. "Err, the thought hadn't crossed my mind at all…"

"Mmm I'm sure." She replied.

"Yeah." Added Ash. "Besides, she'd probably just set her Steelix on you anyway."

"Yeah, it'd skip you across the ocean like a pebble." Joked Misty.

Ash and Misty sat there laughing at Brock's expense, discussing how far they thought the Iron Snake Pokémon could throw him. Whilst this was happening, Brock was getting more and more agitated, to the point where you could see a vein start to protrude from his forehead.

"ACTUALLY!" Brock shouted over the laughter coming from Ash and Misty in an attempt to stop them mocking him. "Actually, she asked to see me. That was the reason I had to go back to home. Jasmine had left me a message to come and see her as soon as I could."

"Oh." Ash and Misty replied.

"Do you have any idea what it's about?" Ash asked.

"No, not really. Although I think it might have something to do with her Steelix now that you brought him up. She said she was having a problem with some of her Pokémon."

"I get it." Said Ash. "And since you're a rock type Gym Leader, who better to ask."

"Exactly." Brock replied. "I mean, I know Steelix is a Steel type Pokémon, but since I have one back home, hopefully I'll be able to help out. That is if Steelix is one of the problem Pokémon."

"Okay, just please try to control yourself around her. Other wise you'll probably end up on the business end of one of Steelix's Iron Tails, and I'm not fishing you out of the ocean." Misty cautioned him.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see."

Suddenly Ash, Misty and Brock heard a voice come from over the PA system.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now crossed the boarder into the Johto region. Our estimated time of arrival is 17:30. Thank you."

Ash yawned. "I think I'm gonna get some sleep before we get there."

"Yeah, I think I'll join you." Replied Brock. "We've still got another couple hours on this journey yet. How about you Misty?"

"No, I think I'll stay up with Togep…" But before she could even finish her sentence Ash and Brock were already fast asleep, snoring away.

Misty laughed to herself.

"Some things never change do they Togepi."

"Toge, Toge." The Pokémon replied.

The journey on the train continued whilst Misty sat watching Togepi who was now on the floor underneath the table playing with Pikachu in front of her. They were happily keeping themselves busy, consuming what food the three of them hand not managed to eat from Ash's all you can eat buffet! This left Misty to peer out of the window at the new views of the familiar region. Her mind left to drift to thoughts of the boy that slept next to her. She rememberd how this was the last region she traveled with him in, apart from the few days on the way back to Cerulean City whilst he was on the way to the Battle Factory. She was so happy to be with him again, it felt like they'd just picked up where they'd left off, almost as if the last three years of waiting for him hadn't even happened. She had completely forgotten how it had felt to be without him, and they had only been back together for a few days. This made Misty realise just how much influence Ash had over her, but she didn't mind. If being with him could make her feel this happy again, then she was not going to leave his side.

As she thought this Ash rolled over in his sleep, finding comfort on Misty's left shoulder. She was surprised when she felt him nestle into her, however when she turned to see he was still sleeping she chuckled to herself. At least now, with him sleeping on her, she could be close to him, even if he didn't know it. She laid her cheek against the top of his head, feeling his soft hair tickle her skin. She turned and kissed the top of his head, lightly, so as not to wake him.

"Who knows." She thought aloud. "Maybe something will happen this time."

With that thought in mind, Misty rested her head upon Ash's and slowly drifted off to sleep.

...

A/N: Sorry this chapter took a little longer to be published, I have a lot going on at the moment so this unfortunately had to take a back seat.

I know its not as exciting as my other chapters, but i feel it was necessary so the the story could progress (the have to get the Johto somehow)!

Again, please review and let me know what you think, I always love reading them :)


	6. A Friendly Face

"Attention. Attention. The Magnet Train has now arrived in Goldenrod City. The time is now 17:28. Thank you for traveling with us."

Ash Misty and Brock awoke to the sound of a female voice over the PA system, Brock now laying completely across the two seats on his side of the table, Ash and Misty still leaning against each other opposite him. Pikachu and Togepi were still on the floor playing at this time. When Misty opened her eyes to see she was still cuddled up to Ash she smiled, 'One of the better ways to wake up' she thought. This did not last long though as not long after her, Ash opened his eyes to see he had been sleeping on his friend and knowing her, he thought, she was gonna give him an earful.

"Woah Misty!" Said a very startled Ash, "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you, please don't hurt me!"

He almost fell over onto the floor in his panic but Misty giggled at his worried face.

"Oh don't worry, I kinda fell asleep on you too, so I guess we're even." She joked.

"Oh good." Ash replied nervously.

"Well, if you two are done getting all cosy with each other, we've arrived." Said Brock. "Come on, lets go before the train leaves for Saffron again."

"Wait..." Said Ash.

"Yeah, we're not…" Followed Misty, but before they could finish trying to explain Brock had already grabbed his things and was walking towards the door.

Ash and Misty sat there and looked at each other awkwardly for a second.

"Maybe we should…"

"...Yeah good idea." Ash and Misty said consecutively, quickly gathering their things, along with Pikachu and Togepi and swiftly making their way towards the platform.

The three friends regrouped on the edge of the platform after pushing their way though the crowds of people who were also trying to get off the train. Brock was right about getting off quickly though, for no sooner had the last person stepped onto the train to go to Saffron, it was off again.

Ash, Misty and Brock stood in the open air station and admired the view around them. From the platform they could see rows upon rows of skyscrapers. It was still just as daunting as the last time they were here. As they looked up at this, they couldn't all help but hope that they wouldn't get as lost as they did last time. Even Whitney, the Goldenrod City Gym Leader, couldn't help them get around, she had been just as lost as they had been!

"So then, what's the plan now?" Asked Misty.

"Well, it's only half past five at the moment, but I wouldn't think there's any point in leaving for Olivine City yet." Said Brock. "Even if it means I have to spend another day away from the glorious Jasmine."

"Alright, that's enough." Misty interrupted, yanking Brock's ear to bring him back out of his day dream.

"AAAAHHHH!" Cried Brock whilst Misty pulled.

"Well, in that case why don't we just have a look round the city for now and stay at the Pokémon center tonight." Suggested Ash. "We can start traveling tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Replied Misty smiling. That was actually a good idea she thought, especially coming from Ash, she was impressed. Whilst she was distracted by him though, Brock was able to pull himself free from Misty's grasp.

"We could go see the new contest building." Brock suggested, whilst rubbing his throbbing ear. "They're holding the Johto Grand Festival here in Goldenrod this time. It's supposed to be quite impressive."

"Alright, why not." Said Ash. "It's just a matter of finding it though." He added.

"Ha ha no problem." Brock said rummaging through his bag. "Behold!"

Ash and Misty were both confused by Brock's sudden outburst. They watched as Brock pulled a rolled up piece of paper, holding it towards the sky in a triumphant fashion.

"What is that Brock?" Misty asked.

"It's a map. Now we'll have no trouble finding our way around." Brock answered with a proud look on his face.

"Mmm ok, well if you can get us to the Contest Hall using that thing, then I'll believe you." Replied a skeptical Misty.

"Just wait, you'll see. You'll both see." Brock said looking at both Ash and Misty.

Just as Misty had expected, Brock was wrong. No sooner than they had set off from the station did they get lost within the twisting streets and alleyways between the towering buildings. Brock however refused to accept that he didn't know where he was going. 'Honestly, typical male' Misty thought to herself as they rounded, yet another, corner into a street with a dead end. Brock was getting embarrassed, Misty was getting frustrated and Ash was getting hungry! It was coming up to eight o'clock and they hadn't eaten since they were on the train. This didn't bother Misty or Brock as much, on the contrary, they were worrying about more important things. But as Ash was no good with directions the others had decided that it was best that he didn't try and help them, and as a result, was left with nothing to do but deal with his hunger.

"Come on guys, we've been at this for almost three hours now. Please tell me we're getting close to the hall, or at least to somewhere with food." Complained Ash, whose hunger was now getting the better of him.

"Don't worry Ash." Said Brock. "We're almost there, I think."

"Are you really that hungry Ash?" Asked Misty.

"Starving. I haven't eaten since lunch, and that was eight hours ago." Ash whined.

Misty started to feel sorry for him. 'Poor Ash' she thought. She knew that her, Brock, Pikachu and Togepi hadn't eaten in just as long, but she had leaned a long time ago how important meals were to Ash. She hoped for his sake they found their way soon. She knew that others would look at this kind of behavior as a little childish, but she still didn't like seeing him this unhappy about something.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be much longer." Misty said in an attempt to comfort him.

"You're right." Added Brock. "Look where we are."

Ash and Misty turned to look in the direction which Brock was pointing in. It appeared they had been quite lucky in their aimless wandering whilst they were talking to each other. None of them had been paying attention to where they were going and it seemed, through some kind of miracle, they had managed to get to the Grand Festival area.

The Contest Hall was a large circular building with a dome-shaped roof. It had red walls and a light blue roof which reflected the light from the sun into the garden that surrounded the building. There were rows and rows of plant life that encircled the Hall, each boarder containing a different set colour of plants. One red, one blue, one purple, they couldn't count how many different boarders there were.

"Oh my gosh." Exclaimed Misty. "It's all so beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." Agreed Ash.

The three of them walked through the Grand Festival garden admiring everything around them. Misty stopped briefly to smell the flowers in the blue section. Blue had always been her favourite colour as it reminded her of water.

As they continued towards the Contest Hall Ash noticed a girl looking at the notice board to the left of the main door.

"Hey she looks familiar." Said Ash.

"Yeah, she does." Replied Brock.

"Really, I don't recognise her." Said Misty. "Who is she Ash?"

As Misty asked though, Ash noticed a small Piplup appear from behind the girl's leg. It was then that Ash and Brock realised who it was. It was so obvious now: The Blue hair, the pink skirt, the white beanie. Ash wondered how on earth he didn't realise before.

"DAWN!" Ash and Brock shouted.

The girl turned around to see who was shouting and sure enough Ash and Brock were right, it was Dawn. When she noticed who it was that was shouting for her, her jaw dropped she had not been expecting to see the two of them here.

"Ash! Brock!" She shouted back, running towards the three of them.

Misty was a little taken aback by their new situation, she had heard of Dawn from Ash obviously but she never thought she would meet her, what with her living in Sinnoh.

"Hey Dawn, its good to see you." Ash said as Dawn reached them.

"It's good to see the two of you too" Dawn replied.

"So what are you doing here in Goldenrod City then?" Brock asked inquisitively.

"I've come for the Grand Festival. After losing to Zoey I want to have a fresh start and try again. So I thought I'd come to Johto for its Contests." Dawn explained. "What about you, what brings you here?"

"We're taking a break from Pokémon training for a bit, so the three of us decided to come here for a bit of a holiday." Brock explained.

"The three of you?" Dawn asked.

"Oh right, sorry I almost forgot. Dawn this is Misty, the Cerulean City Gym Leader." Said Ash, stepping aside so that Dawn could see the shying away Misty who had been hiding behind him and Brock.

"It's nice to meet you Dawn." Misty said politely, now stepping forward to greet Ash and Brock's friend.

"Wow so you're Misty, Ash has told me so much about you." Replied Dawn in amazement.

Misty was also amazed, Ash had talked about her to Dawn. What had he said about her? Why had he talked to Dawn about her? She wondered if Ash had told to her about how he felt. 'No, that would be stupid' she thought, 'Calm down Misty, you can't be like this about everyone Ash has met and you haven't.' But even though she tried to convince herself of that, she couldn't help but hope that, on the off chance, Ash had confessed his love for her to Dawn, and that Dawn would tell her and they could be together!

"Has he?" Misty asked.

"Oh, emm well Brock as well but...Anyway it's great to finally meet you."

Why had she stuttered Misty wondered? It had almost sounded like she was trying to hide something, like something had almost slipped out. But Misty didn't have long to ponder over this as before she had anymore time to think, Brock had stepped in.

"So what's your plan then to enter the Grand Festival?"

"Yeah." Added Ash. "How many ribbons do you already have?"

"Well, just the one at the moment, from Ecruteak City. It wasn't difficult though, mostly local coordinators looking for their first ribbon." Dawn explained.

"Cool, well where are you heading next?" Ash asked.

"Well, there are contests coming up soon in Violet City, Blackthorn City, Mahogany Town and Olivine City. So I'll be going to those next."

"Hey we're going to Olivine City too!" Exclaimed Ash. "Hey, why don't we travel together for a while?"

"Oh! Well, yeah that would be great." Dawn cheered with excitement. "If that's what everybody wants. Is it okay with you Misty?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it. It'll be nice to travel together." Misty answered. But even though that was what she initially thought, she couldn't help but think that now she would have the chance to talk to Dawn more about what she had said about Ash. She didn't want to feel like she was prying into Ash's personal life, but she couldn't bare to think that Dawn might know something about Ash's feeling towards her and she wouldn't be able to find out what they were. Despite her conflict of morals, she knew she had to give it a shot. Although she knew she shouldn't cross any lines, if Dawn wasn't going to tell her, she wasn't going to tell her, but she had to try.

"So what shall we do now then? It's starting to get late." Asked Brock.

Well, I'm staying at the Pokémon Center tonight, I was planning on setting off tomorrow. We could start traveling to Olivine City tomorrow morning." Suggested Dawn.

"That sounds like a good idea. We were planning on staying at the Pokémon Center tonight anyway." Said Misty.

"Wait, but we still haven't had any dinner yet!" Ash complied as his stomach rumbled, so loud that the whole group could hear it.

"Well, the Pokémon Center will have food, and it's just round the corner from…" Said Dawn pointing in the direction of the Pokémon Center, but before she could finish her sentence, Ash had bolted in that direction, due to the prospect of food.

"Come on, we better catch up with him before he gets lost." Said Brock.

Misty and Dawn nodded in agreement and the three of them set off running in the direction of the Pokémon Center.

Misty, Brock and Dawn entered the Pokémon Center in the hope that they would find Ash checking in and heading straight to the canteen. Not to their surprise, when they asked Nurse Joy if she had seen a boy with black hair with a Pikachu, she pointed them directly in the direction of the canteen. They followed the direction Nurse Joy had shown them and they found themselves in the Pokémon Center's canteen, and over in the middle of the room, sitting alone with Pikachu, was Ash stuffing his face.

"Come on, lets go join him." Said Brock.

"You two go ahead, I think I'm gonna turn in." Replied Misty.

"Really?" Said a confused Dawn. "But it's only nine o'clock."

I know, but I have to put Togepi to bed soon, and I'm feeling quite tired as well." Explained Misty.

"Oh, well okay. In that case I'll see you in the morning. I'll try not to wake you when I come up."

"Thanks Night. Goodnight Brock."

"Night Misty, don't you want to say goodnight to Ash?" Brock asked her.

"Do you really think he'll listen to me at the moment, what with a stomach like his?" Misty asked.

"Ha ha, probably not." Brock laughed. "I'll let him know you've gone up when he's done."

"Thanks. Night." Misty said.

"Goodnight." Brock and Dawn replied.

Misty went up to her room and locked the door, Dawn had a spare key so she would be able to sneak in later. She set Togepi down for the night, who was quite tired from all the walking today, and then got changed for bed into her pajamas - the blue vest top and shorts from the night she had left with Ash and Brock.

As she got into bed her mind drifted back to what Dawn had said to her. 'Ash has told me so much about you.' What did that mean? What had he said to her? Misty sighed, maybe she was just over thinking this, but she couldn't help but think that there was more too it. Maybe it was just because she wanted there to be more to it.

Misty settled herself, she knew that if she kept thinking about this she was never going to get any sleep, so she closed her eyes and slowly started drifting off to sleep. Before she finally succumbed to her tiredness she wondered if she would dream of him again. Little did she know she was right.

_Misty found herself in the ocean, dressed as the mermaid from the plays at the Cerulean City Gym. The coolness of the water kissing her skin as she floated underwater, taking in her surroundings._

_She then noticed a small shadow in the water in the distance, Inquisitive, she swam towards it, feeling almost compelled to discover its creator. As she approached she started to depict the outline of what as floating in the water, it was a boy, but not just any boy, it was him. Ash._

_Misty swam over to his body, encircling him with her tail. His eyes were closed, was he okay? Was he alive? As she wondered these things, Ash slowly opened is eyes to reveal the beautiful mermaid that swam before him._

_"Misty, it's you." Ash thought. Misty realised she could hear his thoughts under the water, providing them a means of communicating. In the hope that he could hear her's too she replied._

_"Ash." She said softly._

_Ash paused for a moment. "You are so beautiful." He said admiring Misty in all her elegance._

_Misty blushed, his words warmed her heart. With that two Luvdisc appeared and began to circle around the two of soon recognised them to be Caserin and Luverin form back home. They continued to circle round the couple in the water, Ash and Misty both looked at each other and at that moment realised what was meant to happen next._

_"I Love you Misty." Said Ash. "Your are so, so beautiful."_

_"And I love you Ash." Misty replied._

_With that the couple closed in on each other, Misty wrapping her tail gently around Ash to pull him closer to her. Caserin and Luverin watched with happiness in their eyes as the two young teenagers wrapped their arms around each other and proved their love with a deep kiss. The kiss was so intense Misty's body flooded with a rush a passion that ran from her head down to her tail._

_As the two separated, Misty's body shook from the experience. The smiling Ash took her in his arms again and held her body close to his, so as to help her relax._

_"I never want to let you go." Ash whispered to her._

_Misty felt an unbelievable love for Ash when he said that. Everything he said melted her heart. She pulled away and cupped his face in her hands._

_"And you'll never have to." She said. And with that Misty pulled Ash into another deep kiss to forever seal the bond they had with each other._

...

A/N: Hey, sorry this chapter took a while to out publish, but I've been busy getting ready for a holiday!

I was a bit worried that the dream sequence didn't really fit in with this chapter, but i have been reassured that it's fine here :P

Like I said, I am going on holiday. I leave tomorrow (Sunday 4th) so I won't be able to write anything while I'm gone. But I'll be back on Thursday so I'll get back to writing then. Promise. :P

As always please review and let me know what you think. I'll still be able to get my emails whilst I'm away and it'll be nice to read them there.

Thanks for reading :)

...

Quick note for anyone who has been waiting for the next chapter for a while. I'm sorry I have posted one in a while, but since I've gotten back from holiday I've been having a bit of writers block. I've got about 2 pages of the next chapter so far which isn't a lot but it's a start. I promise I'll have it done soon, I'm trying my best but I was having doubts with what I wanted to happen in the next couple of chapters, I'm still trying to sort out the plot but hopefully I'll work it out. (If anyone has any ideas of what they'd like to see next let me know lol).

Thanks for being patient with me and like I said I'll get the next chapter done as soon as possible.

15.07.2010

Got it done, sorry it took a while!

26.07.2010


	7. Not Such a Good Idea

Misty awoke to the sound of Dawn drying her hair in the bathroom. She checked the clock beside her bed, it showed 8:27 which made Misty smile as it had been awhile since she had seen a clock in the morning that she hadn't wanted to throw across the room like back at home! As she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to adjust to the light that was pouring in through the window, Dawn heard her stirring from the bathroom and walked in to check on her.

"Good morning Misty, did you sleep well?"

"Morning Dawn." Misty replied. "Reasonably well, how about you?"

"Pretty good thanks." Said Dawn, now brushing her long blue hair. "The bathroom's all yours, I got up early so that you could take your time."

"Aww thanks Dawn." Said Misty. It looked like Ash had been right about what he had said about her, she was a good friend.

"Listen, Dawn." Continued Misty, now getting out of bed and walking over to the window. Dawn by this point had made her way back to the bathroom to continue brushing her hair. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure Misty, what is it?" Asked Dawn, not really thinking too much off her new friend's request.

Misty took a deep breath before she proceeded to question Dawn. "What has Ash told you about me? It's just when you said yesterday that he'd talked about me you seemed a bit...Well...I dunno. It sounded like Ash had told something...Important." She hated asking Dawn this and she knew how stupid she sounded, but she couldn't help it, even after a nights sleep she couldn't think about anything else. Dawn's reaction however to this question was not what she was expecting. She froze on the spot midway through a brush stroke. Misty could see her shocked expression on her face from the reflection mirror clearly meaning Dawn didn't realise that Misty could see her from where she was standing.

"O-oh...Emm...Y-y-yeah." Dawn stuttered nervously. Misty could see that Dawn was hiding something from her now, it was so obvious now. The next thing she had to do though was find out what. Dawn shook her head to get her mind out of the frozen panic she was in.

"Sorry, emm, he didn't say anything major as such, he just spoke very highly of you. Yeah, yeah that's right."

Misty was not convinced though, it was still obvious that she didn't have the full picture yet, but before she could say or do anything else about it Dawn had already made her way to the door.

"I'm going to go down to breakfast, I'll see you down there when you're ready. Bye." Said Dawn, closing the door behind her.

Misty was left in the room alone. She sighed, obviously there was something going on with what Ash had said to Dawn but it didn't look like she was going to find out soon. Despite Dawn being bad at hiding when she knew something, she was awfully good at getting out of telling you whatever it was.

Misty went into the bathroom to get herself ready for the rest of the day, she intended to take her time though as it was quite likely she wouldn't see another shower till they got to Olivine City, which she knew would take a while. After drying herself off, doing her hair and getting changed into her yellow, sleeveless top and matching short with the dark red under-all, she picked up Togepi and headed down to the canteen where she was greeted by Brock, Dawn and Pikachu's smiling faces from one of the tables.

"Morning Misty." Said Brock, pulling up a chair for her.

"Pikachu-pi." Added Pikachu ecstatically.

"Morning." She replied to both of them taking the seat next to Brock. "What is there for breakfast then?"

"Nothing special, just the usual: porridge, toast, tea, coffee etc." Brock said as he continued to munch away on the porridge he had gotten himself earlier.

"Oh okay, say wait a second, where's Ash? Isn't he normally the first one down here?" Misty Asked.

"He's still in the room last time I checked." Said Brock. "I think he's still getting ready."

"Really?" Replied Misty.

"Think so, I'll go up and check on him actually, it shouldn't be taking him this long." Said Brock.

"No, it's okay, Why don't I go and check on him for you? You're still eating after all." Misty suggested.

"Are you sure?" Asked Brock cautiously, as obviously he had no idea what Ash was doing up there.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. I'll knock first." Said Misty getting up out of her seat.

"Mmm, all right, if you're sure." Shrugged Brock, tossing the room key into Misty's hands.

"Won't be long, can I leave Togepi with you for now? It's just he's hungry now."

"Yeah, I'll look after him for you." Said Dawn.

"Thank you." Repiled Misty turning around to go back out the door she came in.

Misty ran upstairs to Ash and Brock's room; their room was on the floor above hers. When she got to the door she noticed that the 'Do Not Disturb' sign had been hung on the outside of the door. Although confused by this, she knocked on the door to see if there was any answer, she figured it must have been left there by either Ash or Brock from last night. As she continued to knock however there was no answer.

"Ash, are you in there?" She asked, whilst continuing to knock on the door, but still there was no response.

By this point Misty was getting a little worried. How come he wasn't coming to the door? Was he even still in the room? Where could he have gone? She knocked one more time before concluding that she'd have to let herself in. She took the key from her pocket and slowly opened the door.

Misty shut the door behind her as it was on a hinge that would make it slam shut if she let go of it and walked into the center of the bedroom. From where she stood there was no sign of Ash anywhere which was very unusual. Perhaps he had gone down to the canteen whilst she had been coming up here. 'Yeah, that must be what happened' she thought to herself. As she made her way back over to the door to head back downstairs to check if he was there she heard a sound coming from behind her. Misty froze and turned to see where it was coming from to discover that the bathroom door was being pulled open from the inside, creaking as it moved. 'Oh dear' Misty thought to herself. She could tell this wasn't going to go well, but there was nothing she could do to get out of this situation now. Just as expected, from the other side of the door emerged Ash completely naked, save for the towel he had wrapped around his waist. He entered the bedroom drying his hair with another towel so did not see Misty straight away. She just stood there frozen to the spot, not knowing how to react. But she didn't have long to worry about that long as when Ash had finished drying his hair and no longer had a towel in his face, there weren't many places for Misty to hide.

"GAH!" Cried Ash in astonishment due to the female presence in the room, quickly trying to cover as much of himself as possible with the towels. "W-w-what are you doing in here?"

Misty just stood there, still frozen to the spot, not really knowing what to do now that Ash had seen her. She could only laugh nervously whilst trying to make sure she kept focused on his face.

"Sorry." She managed to blurt out after a few agonising long moments. "I...Err...Just…Downstairs…You weren't...Err...We didn't know." She continued to blurt out whilst making wild hand gestures towards the door and the canteen downstairs, trying to convey the reason for her being in the room. But despite her efforts it just made the situation worse as Ash had no clue what she was going on about at all. He was still getting over the fact she was in his room whilst he was in nothing but a towel.

"I'm just gonna..." Continued Misty gesturing towards the door. "Emm...Yeah."

She swiftly turned on her heels and walked briskly out of the room leaving a dazed Ash alone to try to figure out what had just happened. Once out of the room and in the corridor she found herself able to speak, probably as she was now alone and wasn't in there with him.

"Meet you in the canteen." She said timidly through the wood of the door, but there was no response. Perhaps he didn't hear her, but she didn't dare go back in there to tell him. He'd figure it out.

Misty leant against the door and sighed. 'That could have gone better' she thought. Although upon reflection it hadn't been all bad for her. She had seen Ash without his top on in the past, but as it had been a few years since she had seen this much of him, she realised that something had changed. Ash was far more...Buff than he had been before. She had never really thought about it before but, now she'd seen him, she would never have imagined he would look as good as he did. 'Ash certainly had filled out well' she thought.

Whilst still leaning against the door Misty closed her eyes and bit the end of her left index finger as she let her mind wander to thoughts of her and Ash, her laying next to him on a bed slowly running her finger over his finely chiseled abs, tracing each defined muscle with the tips of her fingers. Him laying there running hand along the side of her hip, following the curves of her body. This was far steamier than any thoughts of Ash she'd ever had before, she kinda liked it. This fantasy did not last long, unfortunately for Misty. She had forgotten by this point where she was and, more specifically, where she was leaning. Her day dreaming was interrupted as a frantic Ash opening the door. This resulted in a now even more confused Ash being completely flattened by a very surprised Misty. Misty had been caught completely off guard when Ash had opened the door and as a result had lost her balance and fallen right on top of him. The two of them lay there on the floor in a dazed state, Misty still laying on top of Ash whose head was spinning from the unexpected collision. When Misty was able to gather herself and had realised what had just happened, she quickly got up off of her friend, feeling even more embarrassed than she had before.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Said Misty as her face got redder and redder.

Ash just lay there, his eyes spinning inside his head. "Ahhhhh." He groaned. "Why were you standing behind the door?"

"I...Err…I'm just gonna go." Misty sighed and she left the room for the second time that morning.

Ash, Misty and Togepi, Brock, Dawn and Pikachu all met up in the lobby of the Pokémon Center after they had all finished breakfast and had packed for the journey to Olivine City. There was an awkward silence between Ash and Misty now, the others didn't pick up on it but Ash and Misty both knew why. Misty couldn't wait for the silence to pass, she intended to pretend that that morning never happened.

"So then." Said Brock. "Is everyone ready to get moving?"

"Hell yeah!" Dawn replied ecstatically. She couldn't wait to get to Olivine City so she could have a chance at getting her next contest ribbon.

"Yep. Mhmm." Repiled Ash and Misty in turn, still not feeling quite up to talking just yet.

Brock saw this but decided it was in everybody's best interests if he just let them work this one out. He had been with both Ash and Misty enough in the past to know when it's best to take a step back and let them sort out their own mess!

"Alright then, next stop Olivine City." Said Brock as they walked out of the Pokémon Center, pointing towards the north of the city where the exit towards Ecruteak City was which, in turn, would lead to Olivine City.

As they were walking Misty approached Ash. "Hopefully we won't get lost again." She chuckled, hoping Ash would take the bait, so to speak, and the silence would be broken.

Ash smiled back at her. "Yeah, with any luck." He replied, still sounding a bit uneasy towards her.

Misty picked up on this and decided to take the initiative. " Maybe we should pretend this morning never happened."

"Yeah." Ash replied smiling. "I was thinking the same thing."

Misty laughed. "Alright then." She said smiling back at him. "It never happened. Now come on, lets catch up with Brock and Dawn otherwise we're gonna loose them. Then how would we get out of this City with your sense of direction!"

"Hey, I resent that!" Shouted Ash as he chased after Misty who was now running away from him after her last comment. The two chased each other towards the city limits, running straight past Brock and Dawn. Misty stopped for a second in front of them and gave Togepi to Dawn to look after temporally, this way she'd have a better chance at outrunning Ash. After that she sprinted as fast as she could, with Ash in hot pursuit. Ash would catch up to Misty and try to grab her hand or arm, when this happened Misty would smile and playfully slap his hand away so as he couldn't get her. Ash knew she was teasing him so he kept persisting, he would get her eventually.

"You know I'm gonna catch you." Joked Ash.

"Haha, we'll see." Misty laughed.

Misty hadn't had this much fun with Ash in a long time, it felt so natural to her to be like this with him. She couldn't think why she had been so awkward with him before, it seemed so stupid now, but it probably would have been even more awkward if she had been okay with it and Ash hadn't have been. While she had been thinking though, Misty realised that Ash had been catching up with her.

"Oh no, you're not gonna get me." Misty shouted back to Ash who was getting increasingly closer.

"Oh, I think I am." Replied Ash in a cocky fashion.

Ash knew it was only a matter of time, and he was right. Before Misty had a chance to put in one final spirt of energy, she was pounced on by the boy chasing her. He had got her. Ash wrapped his arms around Misty as he jumped onto her, almost tackling her to the floor in his haste. Fortunately for him, she didn't mind, she thought it was cute the way he was holding her, his arm around her waist.

"Alright, alright. You win. Let me go." Misty laughed, struggling within Ash's hold.

"Haha, no. I've got you now. If you want me to let go, say please." Ash smirked.

"What? Hell no." Misty said.

"Say please or I'm not letting you go." Said Ash, enjoying the new power he had over her.

"Oh alright then. Ash, can you please let me go?" Misty asked.

"Sure, no problem." Said Ash letting go of Misty.

The two stood there laughing at how far they'd ran. They could only just see Brock and Dawn in the distance trying to catch up with them. They hadn't realised that they weren't following them and were walking at their own pace. Ash and Misty had actually made it to the city limits, and in surprising time. They hadn't even gotten lost which shocked both of them!

"Well, that's more like it." Ash said to Misty once they could both stop laughing.

"What do you mean?" Asked Misty.

"I _hate_ awkward silences between us." Ash explained.

"Oh. Well, I just thought that...Considering what happened...I didn't really know what to say I guess." Misty replied shyly.

"You know what, sod it. Who cares? It's not really that big'a deal anyway. After all, you have seen me topless before. Now if it had been the other way around, then we might have had a problem." Ash joked, smiling at Misty.

Misty smiled back. "Haha, yeah. That might have been _slightly_ different."

By this point Brock, Dawn, Togepi and Pikachu had caught up with Ash and Misty, Brock, Dawn and Pikachu were very out of breath though having been trying not to loose them.

"Thank god. We thought you two were never gonna stop." Panted a very tired Brock.

"Yeah." Followed and equally tired Dawn. "What were you two doing anyway?"

"Sorry." Misty Apologised. "We were just messing about really. We thought you were still behind us."

"Messing about hey?" Said Dawn, giving Togepi back to Misty and giving Ash a sideways glance. Ash responded by suddenly becoming very interested in his shoelaces.

"Right, as we're all together now, shall we get going? And this time can we try to stay as a group?" Asked Brock.

Ash jumped of this subject change. "Yep, sounds good. Come on then, next stop Olivine City."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu called out in agreement, jumping onto his trainer's shoulder so he could rest after chasing him for so long.

Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Togepi, Brock and Dawn headed into the woodland area just outside of Goldenrod to begin their journey towards Dawn's next contest and Brock's encounter with Jasmine the Gym Leader. Now that they were on the move, and at a normal pace, Misty was able to reflect on everything that had happened so far that day. She was happy to see that things between her and Ash were back to normal again after their eventful morning, but one thing was certain. Now that she had seen Ash's new 'physique,' her daydreams were never going to be the same again.

...

A/N: Hello, long time no see. I know what you're think, Holy Hell this one took a while! I Know and I'm sorry but despite it being the holidays, I haven't had a lot of free time and the free time I had when I was trying to write this chapter, I was suffering from writers block. Serious, I don't know what it was but I just could not think of what to write. Sooooooooo frustrating! But it's okay, I'm back now :D

I really hope you like this new chapter, a lot of effort went into it to getting it done so if you do like it please let me know by reviewing. It's been over 3 weeks since I uploaded my last chapter and I miss hearing for all of you.

I'm hoping my next chapter won't take as long to write, I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't, just for you!

Also on a side note, my beta reader is away on holiday at the moment, so if there's a lot of mistakes I'm sorry. There back soon so I'll do the corrections then.

Thanks for being patient with me these last few weeks. I hope you liked it. Review. Review. Review!

...

8.8.2010

Hello again, if you have already read this chapter, thank you :) but I have just made some changes. nothing major, just fixed a plot hole. When I re-read the chapter I noticed I hadn't mentioned Togepi at all so I wanted to say what happened to him during all this.

If you're interested then have another read, if you're not the next chapter will be up soon.

Thanks again :)

Ps: One last thing...Please keep reviewing :)


	8. A Different kind of Camping Experience

It was late afternoon and Ash, Misty, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu and Togepi were traveling along Route 37 heading north towards Ecruteak City. They were only going there as it was the most direct route to Olivine City and only intended to stop there briefly to resupply. The group had recently passed a fork in the road which lead to Violet City, southeast of Ecruteak City, so they knew it would not be long before they were there. Brock had estimated that, at the rate they were walking, they would reach Ecruteak City before lunch the next day. They were currently traveling through a woodland landscape, their view filled with countless different families of plants and trees. The progressively setting sun's light poured in between the leaves that grew high above them from the trees, making them glow a yellowish green hue. In the same trees, a variety of wild Pokémon could be seen nesting, from the common Pidgey to the rarer, sleeping Hoothoot, sheltering from the rays of the sun in the hollows of the trees that they had dug out as their nests. The area was teaming with life, none of which seemed bothered by their presence. Ash and Dawn watched as a group of Growlithe play-fought at the base of a tree as a mother Arcanine watched over them from a low sitting, stone platform she had claimed as her own. Pikachu was eager to join in with them but Ash held him back, thinking it was best that none of them interfered with any of the wild Pokémon and left them to their own devices so they could pass through and camp without any trouble. They especially did not want to upset the mother Arcanine! Misty walked with Togepi in her arms, pointing out all the interesting things she could see to him. She gestured towards one of the smaller trees near them to draw his attention towards a mother Spearow feeding her young. Togepi watched intently as the mother fed each of her three chicks, he then smiled and clapped as he watched as each of them cheep with delight.

Brock had scouted ahead of the rest of the group in search of a suitable camp sight amongst vibrant wildlife, somewhere where they would not disturb anything, or anyone. When the rest of the group had caught up, they found him sitting against the base of as tree with his Happiny in his arms whilst Sudowoodo and Croagunk played peak-a-boo with her. Brock had been searching for somewhere to camp for a while now as everybody was getting very tired. The last few days of traveling had been quite intense, with early mornings and late evenings, only stopping for lunch and the occasional ten minute break. Brock had taken over leading the group after Ash had gotten everyone lost, again. He knew he was being a hard task master but they had to get to Olivine City soon otherwise Dawn would miss out on her chance at her next contest ribbon. It did help though that Jasmine was waiting for him there also, it didn't matter to him why she had called him, he was just happy that she wanted to see him. 'Maybe she wants to express her feelings for me, then we can be together forever!' He thought. But Brock couldn't linger on this daydream as long as he had wanted thanks to a certain high pitched voice that always seemed to be there to repress him whenever he so much as thought about girls.

"Oi Brock. Stop thinking about Jasmine already!" Misty shouted from across the clearing.

"Wait. How did you know I was thinking about her?" Brock asked once they had all made their way over to him.

"Well, you've kinda got a bit of drool hanging about here." Ash said cautiously, pointing to just below the right hand corner of his lip, trying not to embarrass his friend too much.

"Yeah." Misty added. "Plus you're always thinking about girls, I just guessed it would be Jasmine this time as you're marching us to Olivine City like some kind of military operation."

Brock looked down sheepishly, putting Happiny down on the floor so she could go and play with Sudowoodo and Croagunk in the clearing.

"Well, we've got to get to Olivine soon for Dawn as well." Brock replied, hoping that might be able to save some of his pride.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's your top priority." Misty said rolling her eyes, her sarcasm making Brock feel even more sheepish.

"Well, I appreciate you trying to get me there in time for the contest Brock." Said Dawn in an attempt to quell the argument. "But I am so tired." This was followed by a massive yawn and stretch to emphasise just how tired she really was, after all she was younger than everybody else and therefore tired much quicker.

"Yeah." Nodded Ash in agreement, falling to the ground and lying flat on his back. "I don't care what anybody says, I'm camping here tonight."

"Alright, alright we'll camp here. I guess we could all do with stopping now." Brock concluded.

"Thank god." Ash mumbled under his breath.

Ash, Misty and Dawn decided that since Brock had already released his Pokémon it would be a nice idea if they let theres out for a bit. They figured it would be good for them to all play with each other. With that, the remaining three in the group released the rest of their friends: Ash's Torterra, Infernape, Buizel, Staraptor and Gible. Misty's Politoed, Corsola, Staryu and Psyduck. Finally Dawn's Piplup, Glaceon, Mamoswine, Cindaquil, Togekiss and Buneary. Misty had not sent out Gyarados as she thought that a camp site would not be the best place for a Pokémon of his size!

Ash, Misty, Brock and Dawn decided to start putting up their tents whilst all the Pokémon continued to play on the other side of the camp site.

"This was a good find Brock." Said Misty, pitching in her guide ropes.

"Thanks." Brock replied. "It's not bad is it." Brock was right, this was one of the better camp sites they'd found. With all the wild Pokémon around them, none of them could help but feel very one with nature: The chorus of chirruping birds, the sight of their own Pokémon interacting with one another. It was a very picturesque scene.

Ash watched them all whilst he struggled with his own tent. He saw Infernape, Staraptor and Togekiss in the treetops above his head. Staraptor and Togekiss were beginning to roost, getting ready for the evening, much like their trainers, whilst Infernape was having much more fun. He was swinging from branch to branch around them, blowing off some steam. Ash directed his view back to the floor of the forest. He saw that Torterra and Mamoswine were resting under the base of same tree that Staraptor and Togekiss were roosting. They were clearly not in the mood to be active yet and were quite content with relaxing by themselves. The other Pokémon, including Pikachu and Togepi, running around manically, chasing after one another, playing their own little game, enjoying the wide open space. It had been a while since they had been allowed out of their Pokéballs and so were making the most of this opportunity. Slightly away from the everyone Ash noticed Misty's Pokémon were playing by themselves. He thought this was a little bit strange at first, but then he realised why they were that far from everyone. Misty's Staryu was using it's Water Gun and shooting it straight up into the air to create a fountain effect for Poiltoed and Corsola to play in since there was no water in the immediate area for them to use. The three Pokémon each rotated the role of 'fountain' so that they each had a chance play in the water and get cooled off. Psyduck had originally been with them but, at the first sight of water, Ash had noticed him bolting in the opposite direction, screaming at the top of his lungs! He ran over to a large oak which was the furthest point he could get to from the water without leaving the camp site and started running in circles around it in his panic and confusion. Perhaps it made sense in his mind, the more he ran around the tree, the further from the water he got, but Ash couldn't understand Psyduck's logic, if there was indeed any implemented in this action!

Once all the tents were up everybody gathered in the center of the area they had put the tents up in. The tents had be positioned facing inwards on each other around a patch of ground where the grass hadn't grown, that way the tents would all stay dry. There were three tents in total. Ash and Pikachu slept in the one that looked out to the northwest, Misty and Dawn shared the one that faced south and Brock slept with the rest of their traveling equipment (food, cooking utensils, etc.) in the tent that faced northeast. In the center of the bald ground there were the remains of what seemed to be a fire, bits of burnt timber and a rough circle of small rocks.

"Well, this is a poor excuse for a fire." Said Brock disappointingly looking down on the tattered remains.

"You said it." Replied Dawn, looking equally disheartened. "Looks like we'll be building another."

"Yeah, me and Ash will go now to look for fresh firewood." Continued Brock.

"Wait what?" Ash complained. "Can't I just stay here and look after the Pokémon?"

"Ha, nice try. The girls can do that, you can help me." Brock laughed.

Ash shrugged his shoulders in defeat and followed Brock into the undergrowth. As they left, Misty and Dawn could both hear him complain quietly, obviously not wanting to be heard as being lazy to them. It didn't work!

Misty and Dawn turned to each other, now realising that they were alone. Misty automatically went into the mindset of getting ready to ask her about Ash, but before she did she bit her tongue. If all she ever talked to Dawn about was Ash, she'd undoubtedly discover her secret and she couldn't be sure that she wouldn't, unintentionally, ruin things between her and Ash by telling him how she felt. So after much deliberation Misty decided that she would use this time do build a bond of trust and friendship with Dawn. If they were both friends with Ash, it was very likely that they were going to spend a lot of time together. Of course she still had the urge to bombard Dawn with questions to find out what Ash had told her, if Ash had told her how he felt about her, but she knew that she couldn't. If she built up the trust between them first, then maybe she stood a better chance at finding out.

"Right then." Said Dawn, breaking the silence. "While the boys are out what can we get done?"

Misty took this as an opportunity to do something to get her mind off of Ash, even if it was only a temporary solution. This came to no surprise to Misty, ever since Ash had been a part of her life there had never been a permanent solution to getting him off her mind.

"Mmm, I think I might do some washing since we have some time." Replied Misty, now having returned from her wandering mind.

"Okay, in that case I'm gonna feed the Pokémon. They're gonna be hungry soon after all this running about." She turned her head to glance over towards the large oak to see Psyduck still running around it. "Especially that one." She added.

Misty could only offer and embarrassed smile back. "Heh. Yeah." She said looking shyly at the floor and walking swiftly over to their tent.

Misty went inside her tent and fished out her pajamas from her backpack, a celadon green tank top and a pair of light navy, three-quarter length jogging bottoms. She zipped up the tent door as so not to be seen by Dawn or the Pokémon and quickly got changed. Misty never did feel comfortable getting undressed in the tent, even though it was enclosed, she felt too exposed still being outside and so always attempted to change as fast as humanly possible.

She emerged from the tent with clothes in hand, slipping on a pair a sandals that she had with her that she wore when she was wandering around in the evening. They were light yellow with a thin, blue band that joined either side of her foot and between her big toe and second toe and had a design of a Psyduck's face on the heels. She walked over to the oak which her Psyduck had been running around just a second ago. By this point Dawn had already been into Brock's tent where all the Pokémon food was being stored and was now distributing it out to all the Pokémon according to each of their specific requirements. Psyduck was now eating with the rest of the Pokémon contently now that there was no more water, although knowing him, he'd probably completely forgotten about that already! Misty walked over to a clean, low hanging branch that she could reach that was protruding from the main trunk of the tree and hung her clothes over it ready to be washed. Once Staryu, Corsola and Politoed had finished with the food Dawn had given them, Misty called them over to her. Seeing as she was their trainer they were more than happy to help with whatever she wanted. When they reached her, Misty commanded them to each used Water Gun on the branch, and as a result the clothes she had hung there. Once she had made sure that her Pokémon had finished, she took them over to the tent and draped them over its roof to air dry. Normally, when she had traveled with Ash, she would have one of his flying type Pokémon dry them as well using a Gust attack, or something similar. But as they were in no rush for once, she didn't feel it necessary to bother Staraptor or Togekiss.

By the time Misty had finished hanging up her clothes and Dawn had put away the last bag of Pokémon food, Ash and Brock had made their way through the dense forestry that surrounded them. Each of them were carrying a large pile of firewood, obviously their little expedition had been successful. Although Ash was still complaining to Brock, this time about the weight of the logs he had been made to carry. Misty and Dawn both looked at each other and smiled, both thinking that it was impressive that Brock could be this patient with him. It was to no surprise however that when Brock placed his logs down on the floor that he looked relieved to be back. Ash followed up behind quickly, dumping his logs next to Brock's as soon as he was close enough.

"Thank god that's over." Ash said with a sigh of relief, rubbing his arms which were now slightly red due to the friction created by the coarse wood on his skin.

"Oh it wasn't that bad." Repiled Brock.

"Yeah, well...It's easier for you...You're older." Said Ash in an attempt to preserve his manhood.

"Yes Ash. Well done, I'm older. But lets be honest, Togepi could have done a better job than you." Countered Brock.

"Yeah right." Scoffed an unconvinced Ash.

"Well, he wouldn't have complained as much as you." Chuckled Brock, feeling a sense of victory. Ash just shrugged his shoulders, he knew Brock was right but he didn't intend to agree with him about something like that.

The two girls laughed from the sidelines and decided to intervene before it got out of hand.

"Alright, alright calm down you two." Giggled Dawn, stepping in between them hoping that would stop them from biting each other's heads off any more.

"Yeah, that's enough. At least we can make a fire now." Added Misty pushing Ash away from Brock to stop him retaliating again.

"Exactly, so be nice to each other." Continued Dawn.

Brock laughed with Dawn. "Oh alright then. I'm sorry Ash for suggesting you're weak."

"Now it's your turn." Misty said to a pouting Ash, poking him playfully in the shoulder.

Ash crossed his arms, turned his head away from Brock. "I'm sorry I complained so much." He said through gritted teeth.

"Oh be nice." Said Misty, but Ash didn't move, he still looked miserable, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Whilst Ash was still looking away, she reached under his crossed arm in search of his armpits and upon finding them, tickled him mercilessly. She knew how ticklish he was and so was not surprised when he jumped in surprise and start to flail around uncontrollably trying to get away from Misty's mischievous fingers. Brock and Dawn watched in fits of laughter that rivaled those coming from Ash. This went on for about half a minute before Ash couldn't take any more.

"OKAY, OKAY. I SURRENDER! LET ME GO!" Screamed Ash, still in fits of laughter of his own.

"Say please." Said Misty, enjoying what she was doing to her helpless friend.

"PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!" Screamed Ash even louder, still laughing.

"Okay." Said Misty calmly immediately letting go of Ash. But Ash's body was still convulsing thanks to her and, in his confusion, he fell over on the ground, pulling Misty down on top of him by accident.

Ash and Misty lay there on the floor laughing still over what had just happened. Misty rolled over onto the ground next to Ash, she thought if she stayed there she'd crush him! Brock and Dawn were still laughing just as much whilst they looked down on them, they both offered their hands to them to help them up. Ash and Misty took their hands and stood up, trying to calm themselves down and wiping the tears from their eyes.

"Okay, okay. Can we stop arguing now and get something to eat?" Asked Dawn, still slightly laughing.

"Ha ha, yeah alright. I'm hungry now anyway." Said Ash as soon has he had caught his breath.

"Okay, I'll start making the fire. You lot can go and get changed if you want." Said Misty, wiping away the last tear from her eye.

"Alright, I'll come back and help you in a second." Replied Brock.

Everybody nodded in agreement and walked off to their respective tents. As they walked away, Misty saw Ash walk up to Brock and pat him on the back. Brock recognised this as Ash's real apology and turned his head and smiled at him before they went their separate ways. Watching this made Misty smile, it was nice to see them act civil towards each other. It was good to see Ash had matured on his travels whilst she had been absent. This added to Misty's, ever growing, list of Ash's endearing qualities.

Five minutes later, when Misty had finished laying out the stone ring that would contain the fire and had started to pile the sticks and logs inside it, Ash, Brock and Dawn returned from their tents. Ash was wearing a navy blue T-shirt with a pair of camouflage green jogging bottoms. Brock was now in an army green T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. Dawn emerged from her's and Misty's tent wearing a carnation pink top with matching pajama bottoms. The top had a design of a Piplup on the chest and the bottoms were covered in smaller versions of the same Piplup design. Personally, Misty would not want to be seen wearing them, they were slightly too childish for her taste, but Dawn was a few years younger than her so it was okay, they looked fine on her. Beside they were kinda cute, in a way.

Ash and Dawn sat down next to the fire and leant against the trunk of a tree, which had probably been moved there by the last group who had camped there to be used as a bench, whilst Brock helped put the finishing touches to it with Misty and lit it with the matches he had gotten from his tent. The roaring fire immediately sent a wave of warm air around the camp site that everyone, including the Pokémon could feel. Misty and Brock took their seat around the camp fire with Ash and Dawn. Misty sat down next to Ash, on the opposite side to Dawn, and leant against the tree trunk with them, while Brock was content to sit opposite them, cross-legged on the ground, so that the could talk across the fire.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Said Dawn.

"Yeah, what is it?" Asked Ash curiously.

"I know you'll definitely like it." Dawn replied pointing at Ash. Ash was a little taken aback as he didn't know what to expect.

"Everyone close you're eyes." Ordered Dawn, giggling with anticipation. Ash, Misty and Brock looked at each other, none of them now really knew what to expect. Misty was feeling particularly alert towards this. The way she had said, 'I know you'll definitely like it,' to Ash made her feel uneasy. What did she have planned for him? She had not felt like she had known Dawn long enough to tell her how she felt about Ash yet, especially as hardly anyone knew. The only people she had told were her sisters. She had always been afraid that if she told too many people that eventually it would get back to Ash, and she didn't want him to find out that way. If Dawn didn't know how she felt then maybe she was planning to make a move on him herself. She realised that was an outlandish statement to make but she couldn't help it, if everyone had their eyes closed, Dawn could very easily steal a quick kiss off of him for example. Misty only based this on her own feelings towards him though. She knew if she was in Dawn's position, embracing Ash's lips with her own would be almost too tempting. Misty knew though that this wasn't a situation where it would be socially acceptable to flat out refuse to close her eyes for Dawn without raising a few questions. Questions she did not want to answer now and in front of everyone. So Misty forced herself to close her eyes with the rest of her friends whilst Dawn did what she planned to do, but she couldn't help but sneak a peak to she what she was doing. To her relief she was nowhere to be seen, which meant she was not kissing Ash! But where had she gone? Suddenly she heard footsteps coming back from her tent, obviously being Dawns. Misty quickly shut her eyes tight so that Dawn didn't see she was peaking, providing the chance for more questions to be asked of her.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Said Dawn.

Ash, Misty and Brock all looked up at Dawn who was standing in front of them smiling, holding a large bag of marshmallows in one hand and a large handful of twigs in the other. Straight away Misty noticed Ash's eyes light up. 'So that's why she'd said he'd like it.' Thought Misty now feeling quite relieved. 'I really have to control my imagination.' She told herself. She knew she had to stop jumping to ridiculous conclusions when it came to Ash and other girls, but she couldn't help herself. She was very protective over him because she knew that no girl could ever love him and care for him more than she would.

"Fantastic!" Exclaimed Brock ecstatically.

"Dawn, you rock!" Added Ash, now starting to drool slightly at the prospect of roasted marshmallows.

"Pika pika-pi!"

"Toge togepi!"

The gang turned around to look behind Dawn to see Pikachu and Togepi running as fast as they could towards the camp fire. Once they were close enough, they jumped into the laps of their respective trainers with big grins on their faces.

"Ha ha, I think they might want some." Laughed Ash looking at Misty.

Misty smiled back at him. "I think you might be right."

"Well, it's a good thing we have a lot then." Added Dawn.

"Pikachu!" Cried Pikachu, now happy knowing he was going to get some marshmallows.

Ash, Misty, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu and Togepi sat around the camp fire, skewering Dawn's marshmallows on the twigs she had gotten for everyone and holding them over the fire till they were golden brown. They all soon realised that there was a certain skill involved with this as many of the marshmallows they attempted to roast either fell off the twig in a gloopy mess or got to that golden brown stage but were then still on fire when they were pulled out of the flames and continued to burn till they were black before the fire was blown out. They all had fun trying to steal each other's marshmallows whilst they were still in the fire too by trying to skewer another marshmallow and then rip it off who's ever twig it was on. Many perfectly good marshmallows got wasted this way as most of the time the marshmallow ended up falling into the fire and turn into a gloopy mess. But nobody minded, there were lots of marshmallows and everybody was enjoying themselves.

This went on through the night for at least a couple of hours until there were only a handful of marshmallows left, but they were all quite full by this point. Brock and Dawn had eaten more than their fair share having been quite successful at stealing Ash and Misty's marshmallows compared to their pitiful efforts! By this point all of the Pokémon had settled down for the night, falling asleep either in or at the base of one of the trees surrounding them. The only Pokémon left still awake were Pikachu and Togepi who were only still up so they could keep eating!

"Ahhhhhhh." Dawn yawned loudly. "I'm quite tired now. What's the time?"

Brock mimicked Dawn's massive yawn with one of his own. "It's about half twelve." He said checking his watch. "I'm actually quite tired as well. I think I might turn in for the night."

"I think I might as well." Added Dawn.

"Oh, okay then." Said Ash, disappointed that the evening was starting to draw to a close.

"Goodnight all." Said Dawn, as she stood and started heading to her tent.

"You two going to bed yet?" Brock asked Ash and Misty.

"Not just yet." Replied Misty. "I'm gonna let Togepi finish off and then set him down first."

"Yeah, I'm gonna do the same with Pikachu, besides, there's still a couple of marshmallows left and I intend to eat them as you stole all of mine!"

Brock laughed. "Well, you should guard them better! Don't be up too late, early start tomorrow."

"We won't." Said Misty.

"Night." Ash called to Brock as he entered his tent.

"Goodnight." He called back before zipping up the door.

Ash and Misty were left alone by the camp fire with Pikachu and Togepi in front of them feeding each other the remainder of the marshmallows. As the evening had drawn on, it had been getting colder and colder. The warmth from the fire could no longer sustain Misty's body temperature and she was starting to shiver. Truth be told she was also quite tired and could have done with going to bed with Brock and Dawn, but she, like Ash, did not want the evening to end just yet. Especially now that it was just the two of them next to the camp fire, definitely worth getting a little cold for.

Ash looked over towards Misty and noticed how much she was shivering.

"My god Misty, you're freezing." He said with a worried expression on his face.

"Don't worry, I'm fine" She replied, holding her arms in an attempt to keep herself warm.

"Yeah right. Come here." Said Ash holding out his left arm to invite Misty into his embrace to help keep her warm.

"Emm, okay." Said Misty, cautious shifting closer to Ash's outstretched arm. When she was close enough, Ash wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. Misty shivered even more when she felt Ash's skin against her own, not because he was cold, but because she had never been that close to him before, particularly not in that kind of setting: the camp fire, the shining stars, the fact that they were alone aside from their Pokémon.

When Misty had gotten over the initial shock of being that close Ash and he had pulled her as close as he could to himself, she felt much warmer. But it wasn't only that, she also felt protected and safe within his grasp. She felt like, while she was with him, nothing could happen to her, that Ash would protect her. This was a comforting feeling.

Misty kicked off her sandals and pushed them away from her so she didn't keep standing on them. She also took her hair out of its side ponytail which Ash noticed almost immediately.

"Hey you have your hair down." He said looking at the place where the ponytail used to be.

"Emm, yeah." Misty replied shyly. Not many people saw her with her hair down. The only other people would be people who saw her perform the water ballet with the hair extensions, but other than them seeing Misty with her hair down was a rarity.

"It looks nice." Ash said smiling. "You should wear it down more often."

Misty shied away from him upon hearing that. She loved it when Ash paid her compliments, although she would never tell him that.

When Ash saw Misty turn her head to shy away from him when he told her he liked her hair down, he smiled and began to run his fingers through it, playing with its silky smoothness. Misty literally melted when she felt him doing this, it felt so relaxing. So much so that she sunk into his shoulder, providing him with a better angle at which to continue playing with it. She lay there and didn't say a word, she just let Ash's fingers do all the work, it made her feel so calm and at peace.

After a while of having this done to her, Misty let out a small sigh of contentment. Ash heard this but did not pick up that it meant she was happy.

"Is everything okay?" Ash asked.

"Everything's fine, it's just that that feels really nice." Misty replied sleepily, not moving an inch so as not to distract Ash from what he was doing. She just lay there on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Oh, okay." Ash said sounding a little surprised. He thought that he was just been having a bit of fun. He hadn't realised that Misty had been enjoying it so much. This made him blush slightly, normally he would have expected that, if Misty had thought he was doing anything like that for any other reason than to tease her, she would have attacked him, and even if he was just teasing her, it was still unlikely that he would still get away unharmed. She especially would not have told him that she liked it. 'What did this mean?' He asked himself, he had to find out.

"Hey Misty." Said Ash.

There was no response.

"Misty?" Ash asked looking down at her.

Misty had fallen asleep on Ash's shoulder. She had been more tired than she had let on to Ash. He stopped playing with her hair and put is arm down by his side and blushed even redder than before, now that she was sleeping he didn't know how to act towards her. He couldn't stroke the hair of a sleeping girl, could he? He knew he couldn't move because that would wake her up and he didn't want to do that. But did that mean he had to sleep outside with her? He wasn't sure what to do. He sat there for a bit trying to work out how he could get to his tent and get Misty to hers without waking her. Perhaps Pikachu or Togepi could help, they were still eating marshmallows at this point, but Ash couldn't think of any way they could. Then an idea clicked, he could get one of his other Pokémon to help, someone that was larger than Pikachu or Togepi and that wasn't addicted to spongy confectionary! He started to reach for his Pokéball belt but then remembered that he obviously wasn't wearing it, plus all the Pokémon were sleeping outside tonight! 'Well, that was stupid of me.' He thought. He was stuck for ideas and didn't know what to do. At the point were Ash was at his most frustrated and was starting to think about just waking her up and dealing with the consequences, Misty stirred, only ever so slightly, just readjusting her head's position on his shoulder and sighing lightly. When Ash looked down at her when she did this, his feelings about his current situation completely changed, he realised how beautiful she looked when she was sleeping. It was the way the moonlight reflected off her hair making it shine orange like the sun, the way her skin felt against his arm, it's smoothness lightly tickling the hairs on his arm, everything about her. Soon Ash realised that he didn't actually want to move. Seeing her like this, he now felt compelled to stay with her, to make sure she stayed safe during the night if the case was she was sleeping outside. He didn't want to leave her. He wasn't going to leave her.

"Pikachu, maybe you should take Togepi and go to bed now. You can both use my tent tonight." Said Ash looking towards the two Pokémon in front of him.

Pikachu looked up at him, originally with a look that said, 'I don't want to yet.' But when he saw Misty laying on him the way she was, the mouse understood that his trainer wanted to be alone and so left with Togepi to Ash's tent to sleep for the night. Togepi was more reluctant to leave than Pikachu had been, but when Pikachu explained to him what was happening, the small Pokémon willingly left with him, quickly grabbing a couple more marshmallows for the road.

When the two Pokémon were safely in his tent and had settled down, Ash took one final look at Misty and stroked her soft hair for the last time that night before resting his head on top of hers carefully and falling asleep himself.

The next morning Misty was the first to wake up, the early morning sun beaming down on the camp site. The fire had since gone out and was now nothing left but smoldering remains, much like the fire that was there originally. As she lay there, still on Ash's shoulder, she thought about the night before and remembered how Ash had sent her to sleep. Granted it had probably been unintentional but she had still liked it.

'If only he had still been doing it when I woke up.' She thought. 'That would have been something.' She raised her head off of Ash's shoulder regrettably knowing that she had to get the day started, but she had not realised that Ash was sleeping on top of her. As she moved, she caused Ash to stir and inevitably wake up.

"Oh, morning Ash." Said Misty, now realising that her getting up had woken him. "Sorry to disturb you."

Ash stretched out his right arm, his left arm trapped between the tree trunk and Misty's body. "Ahhh, morning Misty." Yawned Ash. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did thanks." She replied smiling. "But the way I falling asleep was even nicer." She added, nestling back into his shoulder.

"Really?" Asked Ash slightly taken aback, he had not been expecting Misty to have liked him playing with her hair that much.

"Mhmm." Misty answered, nuzzling into his shoulder as if to nod her head.

"Oh."

Ash raised his right hand to the side of her face and ran his fingers though her hair once again, this made Misty's body tingle all over just like it had the night before. She looked up at him from his shoulder, he looked back at her whilst still stroking her. Ash wasn't sure what was going on, he had never had a moment like this with Misty before. He looked into Misty's eyes and felt himself get lost in those turquoise pools. He saw her looking right back at him with the same intensity. 'What did this mean?' Ash wondered. He stopped stroking her hair and cupped her face lightly with his right hand, he wasn't sure what he was doing, but it felt so natural, so right. Misty smiled up at him as she shifted her weight from his shoulder to his hands grasp, giving him full control of her face. She knew what she wanted him to do next. Ash didn't break his gaze with her eyes. He felt the new control he had over Misty and he knew what to do next. Very slowly and delicately, Ash raised her chin till it was level with his own. Misty realised that what she had wanted for so long now was finally going to happen. She began to move closer to him and started to close her eyes, very slowly so she could see that he wasn't going to back away, she was very anxious herself but still felt ready. Ash saw Misty move closer and close her eyes, he moved his gaze down to her lips. 'They look so soft.' He thought and found himself drawn to them with his own. He bit his bottom in anxiety, he was nervous about what was about to happen but he knew he wanted it. Ash moved his head in closer until their lips were no more than a few inch from each others.

"Not interrupting are we?"

Ash and Misty instantly broke apart to stare at whoever had just stolen their moment. In front of them, standing on the other side on the remains of the camp fire were Brock and Dawn. Brock was standing with a look of shock and amusement on his face. Dawn on the other hand was standing there, mouth agape, starring intently at the two of them with a look on her face that said, 'Oh my god! Amazing!' Regardless of the way they were looking at them Ash and Misty shuffled away from each other not knowing what to say. They were both in complete shock.

"Well, you can either sit there all day, or you can help me put the tents down." Said Brock looking at Ash, tossing his tent bag to him.

"I...Err…" Ash still didn't know what to say, let alone manage to string together a coherent sentence.

"I thought as much. I've done your pegs." Continued Brock. He then turned towards his Misty's and Dawn's tent. "Come on Dawn, I'll help you with the poles." He said taking Dawn by the arm to make her stop staring at the two of them.

Once they had left Ash and Misty were alone again, but it was obvious that the moment had passed. Misty instantly stood up and took the hair band from her wrist and put her hair back up. This signified to Ash, who was still on the floor covered by the tent bag, that the moment was definitely gone. He attempted to stand up also whilst wrestling with the bag that was covering him. When he got to Misty's level, who by this point had finished tying up her hair, they both stood there and looked at each other, neither one of them saying anything. Misty was the first to try to break the silence.

"I guess I'll go help Dawn put down the tent." She said disheartened.

"Emm, yeah. I'll go wake up Pikachu and Togepi and, you know, do my tent. I have the bag." Replied Ash equally disheartened, rubbing the back of his neck, but attempting to make Misty smile, even if it was just a little bit. All she did was nod in acknowledgment of his joke, she was not in the mood to laugh at the moment. It was nothing against Ash at all, on the contrary, he had made her very happy until Brock and Dawn had come along.

They parted ways to go to the respective tents to get packed so they could leave. As Ash walked over to his tent, he paused a moment to look at Misty as she walked over to Dawn. He raised his hand and opened his mouth as if to say something to stop her, but he didn't, he had no idea of what he would say. So he closed his mouth, put his hands in his pockets and continued walking over to his tent.

That morning nobody really talked. Everyone got dressed and packed up the tents, Ash went over and woke the Pokémon and, after feeding them, they went back inside their Pokéballs. There was a definite chill in the atmosphere as they left the camp site. It was as if the natural balance of the group had been upset, if that was the case everyone could guess as to why. When they had left the camp site, Ash and Misty made a point to walk as with as big a distance between them as possible, this was made easier with Brock and Dawn walking in between them. It was obvious that nobody was happy with the way things were, they all knew something had to change, it couldn't stay like it was.

As they continued walking towards Ecruteak City Ash noticed that one of his shoelaces had come undone. He stopped on the side of the path to bend down and retie it.

"You guys go on, I'll catch up in a sec." He said.

Misty and Dawn walked off and Ash continued to tie his shoelace, but Brock stayed behind with him unknowing to Ash and was standing above him waiting.

"Oh, hi Brock I didn't see you there." Said Ash as he stood up.

Brock looked at him with a serious expression on his face.

"What's up?" Ash asked, sensing that something was wrong.

"I think we need to have a talk." Replied Brock in an equally serious tone of voice to the look on his face.

"Am I in trouble?" Asked Ash now starting to feel worried.

"No don't worry." Answered Brock. "But once we've gotten the supplies you and me are going to have a little chat."

"Okay." Said Ash still feeling slightly nervous. "What about?"

Brock turned around and started to walk to catch up with Misty and Dawn. "I think you know what." He said to Ash who stood frozen to the ground when he heard that.

'Terrific.' Thought Ash.

...

A/N: Ahhhhhhh! I know, you all hate me, but what's a story without a couple of twists :P

I know this chapter was ridiculously long compared to my others and, if I'm honest, I'm not really sure how that happened, I just got really into it I guess. I still like it though lol.

If you've managed to read my entire story up to this point I just want to say thank you, you guys are the reason I started writing this :)

I've got a one-shot in mind at the moment so I might start writing it soon, don't worry it won't be this long! So yeah, look out for that in the near future.

I love you all and thank you for reading up to here, I promise I'll update as soon as I can.

In the mean time, please _**Review, Review, Review.**_

:)

...

01.09.10

Ive started work on the next two chapters so dont worry if you've been waiting a while for them, they'll be done as soon as possible :) Thanks for being patient.

If you're bored waiting for me I finished the one-shot I mentioned before so you can go to my profile and find it there if you're interested. I'm really proud of it and I hope you like it.

Thanks :)


	9. The Road to Olivine Part 1

A/N: Hey guy, I know it's been forever since I've uploaded a chapter and you're either brimming with excitement or just really annoyed with me. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's the latter in which case I'm really sorry :( I've been really busy with other things: settling into university, music projects etc and unfortunately this story was less of a priority (which kills me to say because I love writing it). But it's all okay, obviously the new chapter is up now so I will shut up so you can do what you came here to do. Enjoy.

...

Full title: The Road to Olivine Part 1, the Man-to-man

The rest of the morning went surprisingly quickly, the gang made it to Ecruteak City with time to spare making the likelihood of getting Olivine on time more promising. They still didn't stay there long however, only getting new supplies to sustain the rest of their journey. The group remained unusually silent for the most part whilst they were shopping with only the occasional word being said, mostly between Brock and Dawn. Ash and Misty had remained deadly quiet since that morning, still feeling too awkward to say anything to each other. Brock saw this and felt bad, he realised it was partly his fault as he had been the one who had 'interrupted' them, but he figured it would have probably turned out even worse if he hadn't intervened and they then saw him and Dawn watching.

After they had gotten everything they needed they set off on Route 38, heading east towards Olivine City. There was still very little talking between everybody and it was starting to become unbearable. Sadly no one knew how to break it. They continued across the open grassland and over the rolling hills meeting other trainers on the way, many looked like they wanted to battle however in their current state none of them, even ash, were in the mood.

The day progressed quickly, because they weren't being distracted they were making great time, Brock had already worked out that at the rate they were going that they would reach Olivine by midmorning the following day. They didn't stop for lunch like usual, instead they snacked on the go, not wanting to deal with the awkward silence around a fire where there was nothing else to do.

Eventually the day drew to a close and they knew they had to stop to camp and have some dinner. Brock unloaded his rucksack first and began to set up the camp fire in order to cook.

"Misty, Dawn. Why don't you two go fetch some water from that stream we passed back there so I can boil some rice?" Said Brock realising they had drunk most of what they had bought in Ecruteak City. Finally, the first full sentence of the day and it had been a long time coming. Misty and Dawn both jumped at the chance to answer him.

"Yeah, sure." Replied Misty.

"We'll be back soon." Added Dawn and quickly they grabbed a container and head back towards the stream leaving Ash and Brock alone.

"So then Ash, why don't we have that talk now that we have some time." Brock said now that they were finally by themselves.

Ash sighed. "Sure." He replied reluctantly looking at the floor.

Brock finished arranging the fire and set it alight, he then moved round to sit next to Ash.

"Come on, you've been quiet all day, hell we all have, and we both know what's wrong." He said trying to get him to open up.

Ash sighed. "Well, what do you want to say?" He asked.

"Well, why don't you start with telling me about this morning?" Suggested Brock.

"What do you want me say?" Ash asked spitefully, throwing Brock a dirty look.

"Calm down Ash, there's no need to get all worked up." Said Brock trying to calm down the young Pokémon trainer. "From what I could tell it looked like you were about to kiss Misty. Am I right?"

Ash changed from being very defensive to very shy as soon as he heard Brock say that word. He turned away from Brock so that he couldn't his face going the same colour as his hat.

"Maybe." Replied Ash quietly.

"Oh for god sake, take that thing off and talk to me." Said Brock grabbing Ash's hat off of his head and throwing it down next to him.

"Hey, give that back!" Shouted Ash attempting to scramble over Brock to retrieve it himself.

"You can have it back after we're done." Said Brock pushing him back into place. Ash sat back down, cross armed, cross legged in defeat, not looking particularly happy.

"Just talk to me." Brock said placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Does this mean that you and Misty are together?"

"NO!" Ash barked at him.

"Okay, okay. Well, if your not already together then does it mean that you like her?" Asked Brock. Ash shied away even more this time but that didn't stop Brock from see how red his face was. Even Brock was able to deduce that there were definitely some form of underlying feelings that Ash was yet to express from that.

"Well?" Prompted Brock.

"Yes. No. Oh I don't know." Replied Ash tugging at his hair in frustration and shielding his face between his knees.

"Come on Ash, tell me how you feel. You've gotta be feeling something to be this worked up over it." Said Brock.

"Well, I feel confused, scared, angry, frustrated. Ahhh, I don't know how to think!" Explained Ash through gritted teeth, punching his now clenched fists into the dirt to help release some of his pepped emotions. Brock allowed him to express his frustration briefly before attempting to calm him down again.

"It's okay, it's okay." He said resting his hand on Ash's shoulder again.

After a couple of minute of heavy breathing and fist clenching Ash was calm again.

"Can I just ask you one thing Brock?" He asked quietly.

"Sure, what is it?" Asked Brock, hoping he could answer in such a way that would make Ash feel better.

"Why did you stop us?"

Brock looked nervous upon hearing this question. He had suspected that it would have come up eventually, from Ash's perspective it probably seemed like an inconsiderate or selfish thing to do, but at least he had an answer for him.

"Well, you weren't exactly being very private, plus Dawn was about to ruin the moment by screaming so I figured I'd attempt to save you some embarrassment by not making a big deal out of it and saying we had to leave. Would you have rather had Dawn scream and jump in between you and Misty and start questioning you about it?"

Ash took a second to think about what Brock said before coming to the conclusion that he was probably right. He would have probably done then same thing in Brock's situation.

"Good point, I wouldn't be surprised if she doing that to Misty right now, now that they're on their own. But still, couldn't you have just covered her mouth or something?"

"Do you think it would have been any better if you discovered us standing right having watched you? Besides from what I can tell you're not sure about it anyway so really it was a good thing that I stopped you." Said Brock hoping to finally draw attention away from what he'd done that morning so that Ash didn't think to be mad at him.

"Ahh you're right." Said Ash clutching his head in his hands again. "But what do I do?"

"I think you need to try to work out your feelings for her before anything else happens. The last this you want to do is jump into something and find out that you don't actually feel that way about her, that would be awful for everybody."

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime then?" Asked Ash.

"It's probably best that you try to get things back to normal, it's not good for either of you to be like this with each other. Just try to put this almost kiss business to one side for now, spend some time trying to work out how you feel about her."

Ash knew Brock was right, he had to work out how he felt about her. She was his best friend, but did he see her as more? How did she feel about him? What did that almost kiss mean? He had so many questions, he knew they would drive him insane if he didn't get a grip on the situation.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Said Ash nodding to himself.

"There you go!" Said Brock putting his arm around Ash's shoulder and pulling him towards his chest causing Ash to lose his balance for a moment.

"Alright, alright." Ash said laughing as Brock let go of him, he knew he was only playing around to cheer him up. "So when exactly did you get good with girls?" Joked Ash.

"What do you mean? I've always been good with girls, Haven't I?" Asked Brock slightly confused.

"Well...Err."

"Hey, looks like the girls are back with the water." Said Brock quickly before Ash had a chance to answer his questions!

Ash looked around in confusion, unable to see where they were coming from. Brock quickly pointed him in the right direction when he saw Ash looking clueless to top him looking like an idiot. They could see the outline of two people coming towards them and as they got closer it became more and more apparently that it was Misty and Dawn.

As they came closer, Ash found his vision fixated on his fiery, redheaded friend. For some reason she looked different from before. Maybe it was because of all of his overactive emotions after his talk with Brock, but the way the yellow light from the setting sun reflected off the evening dew that surrounded her, giving her an almost etherial glow, was really a sight to behold. On top of that, the way her turquoise eyes shone as if they were the stars in the evening sky amazed Ash even more. He had never realised it before but Misty was actually quite beautiful. Perhaps Brock was right, perhaps he did see her as more than just a friend, all he knew for sure was he was definitely starting to see her in a new light.

Once the two girls reached them, they all sat around the fire and watched as the final rays of the light disappeared behind the mountains in the West. Brock finished making dinner and passed around bowls to Ash, Misty, Dawn, and of course, Pikachu and Togepi. The group ate contently as they were all quite hungry from an entire day of walking. As they ate the conversation slowly began to reemerge. First Misty and Dawn started talking between themselves, Ash and Brock followed in a similar suit. Not before too long it was as if the rest of that day hadn't happened, almost everything was back to the way it was. The only change was that there were still very few words exchanged between Ash and Misty. Most of the time, conversation involving both of them went through Brock and Dawn. At first Ash still felt uncomfortable with the situation between him and Misty and found hard to even look at her through shame, however as the evening progressed, Ash found himself occasionally glancing over in Misty's direction, just to look at her quickly. Eventually this little habit became a full blow addiction and by the time the camp fire was little more than a few glowing embers Ash found himself unable to go ten seconds without taking in her beauty. At one point, towards the end of the evening, he caught Misty looking back at him. As they sat across from each other, with Brock and Dawn still talking, they exchanged a small smile. It was a seemingly insignificant event, neither Brock and Dawn even noticed, but to Ash and Misty it was extremely important. At least now they both knew that, despite not knowing what their future together would be, they could get along again and not have to dwell on the events of that morning.

...

A/N: Well, what did you think? I know it was shorter than my other chapter - especially the last one - but there is a reason to that. As you can see the chapter's entitled 'Part 1' so all you clever people out there will have probably figured out there are other parts to come, and you're right. This part of the story is in two parts: the part you just read, and the next chapter which will be the same sort of story but from a different perspective. (I don't want to give too much away, if I haven't already). I originally planned for these parts to be one chapter but when it came to it it made more sense to have them as two, that's why this ones only around 2,000 words.

Still I hope you liked it, the next part will be up soon (I have already started writing it) and I'll post it as soon as possible.

Be sure to rate and review my story, hearing your feedback, good and bad, gives me the motivation to keep writing (I will say the good feedback is better though)! :P

Again, sorry it took so long, but hey at least your not waiting anymore :P (Unless you count for chapter 10, oh dear). lol.

Thanks again and I will see you soon :)

Remember, _**Review. Review. Review.**_


	10. The Road to Olivine Part 2

A/N:

Full name: The Road to Olivine Part 2, the Woman-to-woman

...

The rest of the morning went surprisingly quickly, the gang made it to Ecruteak City with time to spare making the likelihood of getting Olivine on time more promising. They still didn't stay there long however, only getting new supplies to sustain the rest of their journey. The group remained unusually silent for the most part whilst they were shopping with only the occasional word being said, mostly between Brock and Dawn. Ash and Misty had remained deadly quiet since that morning, still feeling too awkward to say anything to each other. Brock saw this and felt bad, he realised it was partly his fault as he had been the one who had 'interrupted' them, but he figured it would have probably turned out even worse if he hadn't intervened and they then saw him and Dawn watching.

After they had gotten everything they needed they set off on Route 38, heading east towards Olivine City. There was still very little talking between everybody and it was starting to become unbearable. Sadly no one knew how to break it. They continued across the open grassland and over the rolling hills meeting other trainers on the way, many looked like they wanted to battle. However in their current state none of them, even Ash, were in the mood.

The day progressed quickly, because they weren't being distracted they were making great time, Brock had already worked out that at the rate they were going that they would reach Olivine by midmorning the following day. They didn't stop for lunch like usual, instead they snacked on the go, not wanting to deal with the awkward silence around a fire where there was nothing else to do.

Eventually the day drew to a close and they knew they had to stop to camp and have some dinner. Brock unloaded his rucksack first and began to set up the camp fire in order to cook.

"Misty, Dawn. Why don't you two go fetch some water from that stream we past back there so I can boil some rice?" Said Brock realising they had drunk most of what they had bought in Ecruteak City. Finally, the first full sentence of the day and it had been a long time coming. Misty and Dawn both jumped at the chance to answer him.

"Yeah, sure." Replied Misty.

"We'll be back soon." Added Dawn and quickly they grabbed a container and headed back towards the stream.

As they walked, things between Misty and Dawn didn't change a great deal, there was still no talking between them. As a result, Misty resorted to staring at her feet and tracing the patterns on her shoes in her mind, just as a way of keeping herself busy. As they continued Misty got the feeling she was being watched by someone, or something. She looked round only to realise that they were still alone, however as she glanced over in Dawn's direction to survey the area behind her, she caught Dawn giving her a smug grin.

"What is it?" Misty asked nervously.

Dawn's grin widened. "You know."

"Err, do I?"Asked Misty, now becoming even more worried.

"Oh I think you do." Replied Dawn edging closer and closer to her.

Misty looked back down at her shoes and closed her eyes to brace herself for how Dawn would react to what she was about to ask.

"Is this to do with this morning?"

Misty had often been good at predicting inevitable events, either it was Ash getting them lost or Team Rocket blasting off again, and today was no different. It was a good thing that she did brace herself as if she hadn't it would have been highly likely she'd have jumped out of her own skin. The pressure within Dawn had been building to such an extent that, now that she could talk to Misty about that morning, she literally burst out screaming. Taking this as permission, Dawn wasted no time in diving head first into the subject, bombarding her with questions.

"Oh my god! How did it happen? Why did it happen? Do you like Ash? Does he like you? Were you nervous? Was he nervous? Who made the first move? Are you going to get married?"

Misty felt like she had just been tackled by a Wailord with the way Dawn's questions seemed to physically knock her off her feet and fall to the ground.

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down." Snapped Misty attempting to calm down the now extremely hyperactive girl. "Fine." She said reluctantly. "One at a time if we have to do this."

Dawn could easily sense how distressed Misty was from the way she'd lashed out, she knew now that this wasn't the time to gossip.

"What's wrong Misty?" She asked calmly.

Misty sighed. "It's this whole thing with Ash. He's driving me crazy."

"Thing with Ash? What exactly do you mean?" Asked Dawn confused.

Misty looked down at the floor again, she didn't know how to talk to Dawn about this or whether she should at all. Unfortunately she had already inadvertently answered her question. Just the action of looking shyly away was enough to confirm what Dawn already suspected.

"You really like Ash don't you."

Misty knew Dawn hadn't meant it as a question, it was clear that she knew now. Misty's heart sank, she had never wanted anyone other than her and her sisters to know about this until the time was right and in one day she had completely blown it. She swallowed her sadness though, perhaps because Dawn had been traveling with Ash recently she would be able to lend her an insight to how he felt or what to do next. She admitted she did feel stupid taking relationship advice from someone seven years younger than her, but if she could help then it was worth looking stupid.

"Misty?"

Misty looked up suddenly, she relised she had been staring at her shoes for a considerable amount of time. Dawn was bent over slightly in an attempt to make eye contact with her, trying to see what Misty was doing or what was going through her mind.

"Misty please talk to me." Said Dawn in an attempt to make Misty open up.

"Please, I don't want to talk about this morning, I'm embarrassed, angry, upset, confused." Said Misty as tears began to slowly trickle down her cheeks. "I don't know what to do."

By this point Misty was in floods of tears, all of her bottled emotions she had harboured over Ash coupled with that morning were finally beginning to surface. She attempted to shield her face from Dawn as she didn't what her new friend to see her in that condition, but it was too late. Dawn wasn't stupid and could easily tell that Misty was in pain. By this point the girls had actually reached the stream and, as soon as they reached the water's edge, Misty collapsed to the ground as she no longer had the strength to stand. Dawn sat down next to Misty and put her arms around her, when she did this Misty found herself unable to hold back her tears any longer and she began to cry loudly into Dawn's shoulder. Her howls of pain could be heard by Pokémon far on the other side of the water, Dawn could have never have comprehended that Misty would have this much built up angst over Ash.

"Shhh, it's okay. I can't believe Ash would ever put anyone through this much pain." Said Dawn holding Misty tighter.

"It's not his fault." Sobbed Misty. "He doesn't know."

Dawn pulled away from Misty to look her in the eye "You mean he doesn't know how you feel?" She asked shocked.

Misty shook her head.

Dawn hugged her tight again. "Poor you. How could he not realise that? Honestly he's so dense."

Misty took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. "It's not his fault, I've never told him."

"Really?" Asked a confused Dawn. "Why not?"

"What's the point?" Misty asked as she began to cry again. "It's not like he would ever feel the same way."

"I don't know about that." Said Dawn who had moved to sit next to Misty by the waters edge. "From the impression I got, I thought he liked you."

"Really?" Asked Misty as she rubbed her eyes again.

"Yeah. It's like the fishing lure you gave him. He showed it to me once and was very protective of it. He wouldn't even let me touch it."

Misty's face lit up upon hearing this. Perhaps Ash did have some feelings for her after all. As she thought back to that morning she remembered how it wasn't her leaning into the kiss, he had also lent towards her before they had been interrupted. Did this mean that he liked her though, or was it Ash just being dense and not knowing what else to do? While she would normally have guessed the latter, there was something about their night together, and that morning, that made her feel that maybe, just maybe, he shared her feelings. She soon realised however that in their current situation she couldn't just go bounding up to him with her newfound hope and profess her love to him, plus it probably wouldn't be the best thing to do, she didn't want to scare him away.

"Mmm maybe he does. But it doesn't really matter if he's not speaking to me like now." Said Misty lowering her head again, disheartened.

"Come on Misty." Said Dawn as she patted Misty on the shoulder. "It won't last forever, you know that. You two spend way too much time together to not talk to each other. Besides, you've known each other for over six years now, neither of you are gonna let something like this ruin what you already have. I know you wouldn't and Ash would realise he wouldn't be able to cope without your help. Who were the ones looking after him when you started traveling together?"

"Me and Brock." She said agreeing with Dawn. She was right, she would let this ruin their already strong friendship. If anything it gave her a window to possibly become more.

"Exactly, now come on lets get the water and head back. With any luck Brock will have slapped some sense into Ash as well!" Said Dawn standing up as she went to fetch the water canister.

Misty laughed. "Maybe, but I don't think Brock is the best person to give relationship advice."

Dawn laughed with her. "True, but you never know, he may surprise us yet."

"Maybe." Smiled Misty.

The girls gathered their things and filled the canister for Brock. Once they were done they began to head back towards the camp site, fortunately in a much better mood than they had gone in. As they approached the camp Misty realised there was still something on her mind.

"Dawn?"

"Yeah Misty, what's up?" Dawn asked as she waved down to the faint outlines of Ash and Brock.

"What am supposed to do when we get back to the camp? I mean Ash probably still isn't talking."

"I think the only thing you can do is hope that things get better. Like I said, you and Ash have known each other for so long now, he's not so dense that he'd let a friendship like yours go to waste. Besides who knows maybe it's opened his eyes to how you might feel about him. This could be a good thing, just give it time. I'm sure everything will get back to normal soon. Especially as we're always together, he'll have to talk to you at some point!"

Dawn's words comforted Misty, she knew she was right she just hoped that this period of silence didn't last too much longer, she missed Ash.

"Thanks." Misty smiled. "Come on lets get some dinner."

Once they reached the two boys, they all sat around the fire and watched as the final rays of the light disappeared behind the mountains in the West. Brock finished making dinner and passed around bowls to Ash, Misty, Dawn, and of course, Pikachu and Togepi. The group ate contently as they were all quite hungry from an entire day of walking. As they ate the conversation slowly began to reemerge. First Misty and Dawn started talking between themselves, Ash and Brock followed in a similar suit. Not before too long it was as if the rest of that day hadn't happened, almost everything was back to the way it was. The only change was that there were still very few words exchanged between Ash and Misty. Most of the time, conversation involving both of them went through Brock and Dawn. Misty felt uneasy about talking to Ash, from what she could tell he was still uncomfortable thanks to the events of that morning. As the night drew to a close Misty had all but given up with trying to strike up a conversation with him, it seem like a futile effort to fix their situation that evening, but then it happened. She caught him glancing at her from across the fire. He looked at her with a sense of embarrassment, clearly not wanting to have been seen by her, but this was the moment Misty had been waiting for. She returned his gaze with a small smile, she saw Ash act slightly taken aback by the small gesture and immediately her heart started to race. Perhaps she had come across too strong, maybe he wasn't ready yet to exchange pleasantries. 'Oh know, I've blown it now.' She thought to herself. Fortunately, before she could begin to assume worse, Misty saw Ash relax from his surprised posture and return her cheerful grin with one of his own. She felt those all too familiar butterflies dancing inside her as his dark chocolate eyes gazed into her glittering aquamarine pools. His smile warmed her heart, knowing that he wasn't being completely cold was a comforting feeling for her. Despite not knowing what her's and Ash's future together would be, she could at least take solace in the knowledge that she would have to dwell on the events of that morning again.

...

A/N: Well there you go, the second part is now done finally :)

hoped you liked it. whilst I was writing this I started to feel that chapter 9 could have been written a bit better so at some point i'll probably go back and redo it.

I'm gonna take another little break from this story I think to write another one-shot, i have one already start that i really want to finish and i think you'll really like it so i want to get that published first. Be sure to be on the look out for it.

Thanks again for reading, if you're reading this far into the story then thankfully i haven't bored you to death...yet!

_**Review. Review. Review.**_


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